
Class /jc/'6 

Book /"f^ 



Gopyriglit)^" i_- 



COPVRIGHT DEPOSm 



\ 



X 



THE HISTORY 

AND GEOGRAPHY 

OF TEXAS 



AS TOLD IN COUNTY 
NAMES 



By z. t; fulmore 

FELLOW OF THE TEXAS STATE HLSTORICAL 
ASSOCIATION 



^38' 



COPYRIGHT 1915 

By 
Z. T. FULMORE 



Press of E. L. Steck, Austin 

©aA4lll048 



MAY 15 1915 



h.>. 



PREFACE. 



Several county names stand out on the map of Texas that 
were hoary with age a century and a half before the word 
"Texas" began to develop into geographical significance. These 
names were probably here before Columbus discovered Amer- 
ica. At any rate Coronado and the followers of De Soto found 
them here with a well established local identity within less than 
fifty years after that event. 

The history of the State begins with the year 1528, during 
that epoch-making period when Henry VIII was laying his 
plans for a divorce from Catherine; when Luther was trans- 
lating the Bible into German ; several years before Calvin wrote 
his Institutes of the Christian Religion, and before Michael An- 
gelo painted his masterpiece in the Sistine Chapel at Rome. 

Queen Elizabeth had not been born, and a quarter of a cen- 
tury had to come and go before Shakespeare first saw the light. 

Comparing it with some of the older dates in American his- 
tory it was seventy-nine years before the first settlement at 
Jamestown, ninety-two years before the Mayflower landed at 
Plymouth Rock, and more than two hundred years before 
George Washington was born. 

Like the streams on our western confines, the stream of 
Texas history for nearly three hundred years had an uncer- 
tain and unsteady flow, but enough sediment in the form of 
county names has been left upon its banks to indicate the vol- 
ume and general trend of the stream. 

This book undertakes an analysis of that sediment in so far 
as the same can be done, by the historical interpretation of 
these names. 



iv Preface 

It is made up, in the main, of a series of sketches which out- 
line the origin and history of the county names of Texas, 
grouped and correlated in such a way as to indicate their 
places in a general perspective of the State's history. It is not, 
and does not purport to be, a history of the different counties 
of the State, nor does it purport to be a history of the State, 
except in so far as that is involved in county names. 

The body of the text was published in the Galveston and 
Dallas News, and in the Far?;; News, in 1912 and 1913, which 
made it available to more than a hundred thousand readers in 
and out of Texas. Scores of such readers, a large majority 
of whom were strangers to the author, wrote letters commend- 
atory of the work, many expressing a desire to see the same 
published in book form. Thus encouraged, the author has care- 
fully revised the sketches and considerably enlarged the entire 
work, and now gives it to the public in this form. 

Especial attention is called to the county diagram, or gene- 
alogical table of our county system. The use of this as a ref- 
erence will be of value to the busy lawyer, the abstracter of 
land titles, and the real estate agent. It also furnishes a con- 
venient frame work for the political history of every county 
in the State. 

The maps have been compiled with scrupulous regard for 
decrees, treaties, aaid laws fixing boundaries, as well as for 
historical accuracy. They are not copies of other maps, but 
were drawn by an expert draftsman in the General Land Office 
of Texas, under the personal supervision of the author with the 
books defining or creating boundaries constantly before him, 
and now for the first time they appear in a historical work. 

In a work of this character any attempt to give a bibli- 
ography would be impracticable. Wherever it was deemed 
proper, this has been given in the body of the text. 

To the scores of men and women who have aided in the col- 



Preface v 

lection of data for the work, the author reiterates his grateful 
acknowledgments. 

The work was first undertaken for the purpose of presenting 
a true picture of the founders and builders of Texas, or, as the 
father of history so aptly expresses it in the opening paragraph 
in his great work, "These are the researches of Herodotus of 
Halicarnassus that the actions of men may not be effaced by 
time, nor the great and wondrous deeds displayed by both 
Greek and barbarian be deprived of renown." As the work 
progressed he was surprised to find so many descendants of 
the subjects of the sketches, and the pleasure enjoyed in getting 
in touch with so large and respectable an element of Texas citi- 
zenship contributed much toward making it a labor of love, 

Z. T. FULMORE. 

Austin, Texas, January 14, 1915. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The word "Texas," although in use among the Indians, "from 
a time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the con- 
trary," did not begin to develop into a definite, geographical 
name until about the year 1690. The word signified "allies," 
"friends," "confederates," and was applied to such tribes as 
allied themselves or formed leagues for their mutual protec- 
tion and defense. In 1689 there were ten or twelve such tribes, 
each with a distinctive name, inhabiting a region embraced 
within the areas of the present counties of Cherokee, Rusk, 
Houston, and Nacogdoches, and designated in a general way 
as the Hainai Confederacy. In 1689 a chief of the Nebedache 
tribe, representing the Texas, or Confederacy, visited De Leon, 
who was in command of an expedition in search of La Salle's 
old fort and settlement, and sought the friendship of the Span- 
iards. 

Of the tribes composing this Confederacy De Leon wrote : 
"The Texas are a well governed people and plant large quanti- 
ties of maize, beans, calabashes, cantaloupes, and watermelons. 
It must contain about eight hundred heads of families, each 
one having a large, wooden house, plastered with clay and 
roofed with lime. They are familiar with the fact that there 
is only one true God, that he is in heaven, and that he was born 
of the Holy Virgin. The Indian governor asked me for min- 
isters to instruct them, and it is certainly a pity that people 
so rational should have no one to teach them the gospel." 

In the follownig year (1690) De Leon and Father Masanet 
returned with a party and reached the Nebedache village in 
what is nov/ the northeastern part of Houston County, near 
where the San Pedro Creek empties into the Neches River, and 
there established the Mission San Francisco de los Texas. That 
region then began to be called "The Texas Province," and for 
a quarter of a century the country was known by no other 
name. When Spain determined to occupy the country, in 1715, 
making the capital or headquarters at San Antonio, the coun- 



viii Introductory 

try was officially designated as "Nuevas Philipinas," in honor 
of Philip V, but the name "Texas" had become so firmly fixed 
in the Spanish mind that Nuevas Philipinas soon fell into dis- 
use and the name Texas has come down to us not only as a 
geographical term embracing the original territory of Texas, 
but, following all the changes, political and otherwise, has at- 
tached itself to all the territory within the present boundaries 
of the State. For a more detailed account — probably the most 
satisfactory study of the subject yet made — of how the name 
Texas established itself in the geographical consciousness of 
civilization, see Dr. Bolton's "The Native Tribes About the 
East Texas Missions," Vol. XI, No. 4, of the Quarterly of the 
Texas State Historical Association, from which this account is 
mainly taken. 

During the Spanish dominion there was very little devel- 
opment of any sort in Texas. The whole population, exclusive 
of Indians, did not exceed five thousand souls when Anglo- 
American settlement began in 1822, but during that early pe- 
riod the Spaniards explored practically the whole of Texas 
south of the thirty-second parallel. They gave names to all 
the conspicuous features of the gulf shore line from Sabine 
Pass to the mouth of the Rio Grande, — islands, bays, passes; 
to all streams emptying into the Gulf and to many of their 
tributaries; to all the principal mountains, trees, shrubs, flow- 
ers, and vines peculiar to the region, as also to birds, fishes, and 
animals. In various ways nearly all of these have become geo- 
graphical names, most of them in their original form, in the 
lower half of the State. The Spaniards not only affixed names, 
but they gave geographical terms which have survived on our 
map. We have no sounds, inlets, straits, capes, runs, ponds, 
swamps, gaps, nor even lakes of any importance, but in lieu of 
these, passes, points, bayous, lagoons, matagordas, and the like. 

After the student has gone over the geography of the United 
States and has familiarized himself with the names of all forms 
of land and of water in other sections, he encounters a new set 
of terms as soon as he reaches the southeastern border of the 
State. He no longer reads of inlets, sounds, runs, straits, and 
the like, but of passes, bayous, lagoons, etc. As an illustration 



Introductory ix 

of the absence of such terms north of the thirty-second par- 
allel, while the passway through the Guadalupe Mountains is 
called Bandera Pass, such passages north of the parallel are 
called gaps, as Buffalo Gap, etc., the one the Spanish term, the 
other the Anglo-American term, one being a relic of Spanish 
activities and the other the first impress of the Anglo-Amer- 
ican. 

The faithful priests who followed the expeditions of the 
Spaniards have left mementos of their faith and devotion in 
names traceable to the Savior, the Virgin Mary, to Peter and 
the other apostles, and many names from the long list of their 
saints and feast days, that have survived all the checkered 
course of our history. Mingled with these are many Indian 
names, whose origin and history are known only by the expert 
ethnologist. With the incoming of the Anglo-American the 
rapid increase of population brought a corresponding increase 
in geographical names, most of which are Anglo-American. 

The list of the twenty-three original municipalities that ex- 
isted in 1835 and were later made counties, has grown until 
the number of counties has reached two hundred and fifty- 
one. To this list of names the following nations and states 
have contributed : England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Aus- 
tria, Spain, Mexico, Canada, and, with the single exception of 
Rhode Island, every state in the Union east of the Mississippi 
River. Among these are the names of alumni of nine leading 
colleges and universities of Europe, twenty-three of America, 
two of Mexico, and two of Spain. 

Four are the names of men who sat on the supreme bench 
of states before coming to Texas, five of governors of other 
states before coming to Texas, four of members of the United 
States Congress, prior to their arrival in Texas. Nine had been 
members of conventions that framed the constitutions of other 
states, twenty-five of members of the legislature of other states, 
while one was president of the convention which framed the 
first constitution of the Republic of Mexico. Twelve had served 
under Jackson in his war against the Creeks, and in vanquish- 
ing the British at New Orleans, and their tracks are plainly 
marked from the Appalachians to the shores of the Pacific. 



CHAPTER I. 

SPANISH PERIOD OF TEXAS HISTORY. 

The following county names are connected with the history 
of Texas from 1685 to 1821 : 

Angehna 1690-1730 

Aransas 1746-1749 

Bandera 1732 

Bexar 1730 

Galveston 1789-1795 

Garza 1730 

Goliad 1722-1749 

Guadalupe 1689 

Hidalgo 1810-1811 

La Salle 1685-1687 

Medina 1689 

Nolan 1797-1801 

Presidio 1702 

Refugio 1791 

San Augustine 1756-1772 

San Jacinto 1756-1772 

San Saba 1756-1758 

Trinity 1690 

Uvalde 1790 

Victoria 1810-1839 



The History and Geography of Texas 




MISSION CONCEPCION 



ANGELINA. 



This word means "Angel," or ''Little Angel," and was given 
to the stream from which the county took its name. How it 
came to be fixed upon our geography involves an interesting 
episode in the historj^ of the early Catholic Missions of Texas. 

De Leon, on his second entrance into the country (1690), 
brought with him soldiers, priests, and the necessary equip- 
ment for the establishment of missions. The first mission es- 
tablished was San Francisco de los Tejas. While its exact lo- 
cation has not been fixed, it was somewhere near the northeast 
corner of what is now Houston County, where San Pedro Creek 
empties into the Neches River. Further up the country was 
an Indian settlement known as the Hainai Village, on the west- 
ern boundary of what is now Nacogdoches County. The holy 
fathers, in their visits around among the Indian villages, found 



As Told in County Names 3 

at this place an Indian girl, who became attracted to them and 
expressed a wish to learn their language. The result was she 
was invited to come to the mission and receive instruction. 
She was warmly welcomed by both priests and soldiers, and 
soon became enamored of her work and environment. Her 
studious habits and affable ways so charmed both priests and 
soldiers that they applied to her the pet name of "Little Angel," 
and called her native village Angelina's Village, and the stream 
that flowed by, Angelina's River. 

In 1693 it was determined to abandon this Texas mission, 
but Angelina had not progressed in her work enough to enable 
her to speak and write the language, and she would either have 
to abandon the work she had set her heart upon, or abandon her 
people and her home and cast her lot with the Spaniards in 
their far-off country. She chose the latter and accompanied 
the priests and soldiers to the Mission San Juan Bautista, on 
the Rio Grande. Here she remained for over ten years, pur- 
suing her studies, and became an object of much attention from 
the explorers and travelers in their journeys back and forth 
from Louisiana and Mexico. She very naturally became the 
pride of the church and state dignitaries and famous from 
Louisiana to Mexico. She grew proficient in the Spanish lan- 
guage, joined the church and was baptized. She later returned 
to her native village and doubtless did missionary work among 
her people, though there is no record of it. It was decided to 
re-establish the missions of Texas in 1716, and in that year 
the Mission San Francisco was re-established near the old 
site, and a new mission was established at Angelina's village, 
doubtless upon her request, as she actively aided in its estab- 
lishment, and this was called Purissima Concepcion de Acuna. 

In 1719 the French invaded that part of Texas and drove 
away the priests and soldiers, causing another abandonment 
of missions, but Angelina remained at her post, as will be seen 
later on. 

It was during this year that Belisle sought her out. Belisle 
was a distinguished Frenchman, who had been placed in charge 
of a French colony of about 1,000 persons to settle in Louisi- 
ana. Like La Salle, thirty-four years before, he sailed too far west 



4 The History and Geography of Texas 

and made a landing at Matagorda Bay to procure water for 
his ships. While the sailors were procuring water, he and four 
companions went on shore to hunt. They became lost in the 
woods, and the vessels left them. 

When they were reduced almost to starvation, Belisle gave 
his dog to his companions to eat, but the dog escaped from 
them and fled to the wilderness. The four companions starved 
to death, and Belisle was about to share their fate when the dog 
returned with an opossum in his mouth. After much wandering 
and suffering he finally reached Angelina's village, half 
starved, naked and lacerated from the stripes he had received 
among some of the savages. He immediately went to the house 
of Angelina, who, in spite of the fact that the French had 
driven away the fathers from her mission and her country was 
now at war with France, received him kindly, dressed his 
wounds, restored him to health and strength and sent him to 
Louisiana. The last recorded evidence of this woman was in 
1721, when the Marquis of Aguayo was formally received by 
eight chiefs of the Texas Indians, speaking to them through 
Angelina as their interpreter. 

In 1731 it was decided to move these two missions to the 
San Antonio River. The Mission San Francisco was moved to 
the river, about twelve miles below San Antonio, and stone 
buildings were erected. Its ruins are still recognized as the 
old Mission Espada; while Angelina's Mission was moved fur- 
ther up the river and is now at the lower suburb of the city of 
San Antonio, in a fair state of preservation, popularly known 
as the Mission Concepcion, and bears its silent testimony to the 
religious zeal of this Indian woman. To Dr. Bolton of the Cal- 
ifornia State University the author is indebted for the essen- 
tials of this episode. He gives some interesting facts of her 
career and the story will be concluded in his words : 

"In 1715 St. Denis, while on his way from Louisiana to the 
Mission San Juan Bautista, accompanied by an escort carrying 
merchandise, had occasion to stop at the Hainai Indian village, 
on a stream in what is now East Texas, where he had previ- 
ously traded. Penicaut, who was with him, and who wrote an 
account of the journey, says: 'In this village we found a wom- 



As Told in County Names 5 

an named Angelique, who had been baptized by the Spanish 
priests. She spoke Spanish verj^ well, and as St. Denis was 
familiar with that language he employed her as chief inter- 
preter.' (Margry Deconvertes et Entablissements des Fran- 
cais v., 405-500, translated in Bolton & Barker's 'With the 
Makers of Texas'— 50.") 

From the Spanish we learn that Angelique, called by the 
Spaniards Angelina, was baptized at one of the missions on the 
Rio Grande, but when it occurred does not appear. Since An- 
gelina could speak Spanish well she must have been with the 
Spaniards some time before the journey of which Penicaut 
speaks. 

Her baptism was evidently the result of the missionary work 
among the Texas Indians between 1690, when the first mission 
was established, and 1693, when it was abandoned. Angelina 
was useful as an interpreter for the Spaniards at the Hainai 
Village, which stood west of the modern Douglas and the 
stream that flowed by, which up to 1690 had been called Pascua 
del Espiritu Santo, soon came to be called Rio de Angelina, or 
Angelina's River, presumably with reference to this woman. 
In 1716 the Mission Concepcion was founded at Angelina's 
Village, and Father Espinosa, who established it, tells of find- 
ing her there and employing her as an interpreter. (Diary, 
1716.) 

Belisle, the lone Frenchman, who made his way overland 
from the Gulf coast to Natchitoches, in 1719, passed through 
this Hainai Village, and in his narrative tells of his talk with 
Angelina while there. (Margry VI, 244.) 

In 1721 she was still at the village and was one of a party 
of leading personages, including eight chiefs, who went out to 
meet the Marquis of Aguayo when he made his famous expedi- 
tion to East Texas. (Pena, Diary in Mem. de Nueva de Es- 
pana, XXVIII, 33.) 



6 The History and Geography of Texas 

ARANSAS. 

The origin of this name dates back to 1746. From Dr. Bolton 
I have obtained the following account: 

"In 1746 Capt. Oribio Basterra made the first recorded Span- 
ish expedition to the lower Trinity. Passing- the Trinity south- 
westward from Nacogdoches, he named a stream, which seems 
to be the San Jacinto, in the Orcoquisac country, 'El Rio Nom- 
brado Nr'a Senora de Aranzazos (the river named Our Lady 
Aranzazu).' He evidently gave the name himself, and it is ap- 
parent that Our Lady of Aranzazu was a saint in whose honor 
he named the stream, just as the Guadalupe was named Nr'a 
Senora Guadalupe, Bahia Nr'a Senora de Loreto, etc., and he 
might have added Nr'a Senora Refugio. The reference is 'Dil- 
igencias Practicades pr Jn Juagn de Oribio Sobre Establiss- 
ements al Francisces' 1746, entry for February 23.' " 

In this connection it is proper to state that "Our Lady" has 
reference to the Virgin Mary, in whose honor many shrines 
were raised in various parts of Southern Europe, and in Latin 
America, and their Texas names, Aransas, Guadalupe, etc., were 
in honor of the shrine of the Virgin in those places. How the 
name was shifted to the river now known as the Aransas is 
only a matter of conjecture. Basterra had been Governor of 
Texas in 1739 and was afterward a captain in the army, with 
a fondness for exploring. He was in Texas for more than 
twenty years, spending much of his time west of the Guada- 
lupe River. 

BANDERA. 

This county took its name from Bandera Pass. The word 
means "flag." 

The reason for the application of this name to the pass, which 
is a natural gateway through the Guadalupe Mountains, is not 
certainly known. There are three traditions in regard to it, 
two of which are in entire accord with well-known historical 
facts and virtually connect themselves with them. The pass 
is about fifty miles northwest of San Antonio, and was directly 
on the route from San Antonio to the San Saba Mission. 



As Told in County Names 7 

For many years it was a strategic point for the Indians. 
Yoakum's History of Texas informs us that in 1732 an armed 
force pursued a band of marauding Apaches, who had made 
one of their numerous forays to San Antonio. That around 
and near this pass the Indians had their villages, and when 
they reached this place they made their stand and fought vig- 
orouslj^ but were severely beaten by the Spaniards. A tradi- 
tion was current among the old Manchaca and other families 
in San Antonio a hundred years ago as to this battle, with the 
added statement that the Spaniards, after they had severely 
chastised the Indians, left their flags planted upon the moun- 
tain top as a signal and warning that more punishment would 
be meted out if they resumed their raids upon the settlements. 

We are informed by the histories that the Comanches, a few 
years later, came down into this region, made war upon the 
Apaches and soon overcame them. Not content with this, they 
began their raids upon the settlements, and in 1758 destroyed 
the Mission of San Saba and its garrison. 

The government at the City of Mexico had persistently 
failed to garrison San Antonio with a sufficient force to pro- 
tect the settlers. In 1759 they induced the Apaches to join 
them as auxiliaries and with a force of 500 men, a majority 
being Apache auxiliaries, marched against the Comanches. 
Meeting a force of 6,000 Comanches and allied warriors, they 
retired to San Antonio and disbanded. The only hope for pro- 
tection of any sort now rested upon their ability to treat with 
the Comanches, and for this purpose Padre Calahorra and 
other priests were deputed to make treaties. One of the re- 
sults was the fixing of a boundary between the regions they 
were to occupy and the Guadalupe Mountains became the line, 
and a flag upon the mountain was the sign of the treaty. While 
the treaty v/as habitually violated by the Comanches, it af- 
forded the only protection the settlers had in after years. 

The circumstances and facts of the tradition, which refer 
to this treaty, were related to a party of gentlemen who were 
traveling through that region in 1867. They encamped for the 
night at the county site, and while there some thieving Com- 
anches crept in under cover of the darkness and stole some 



8 The History and Geography of Texas 

horses. As soon as it was found out, the sheriff, with a posse, 
started in pursuit, riding as rapidly as possible to this pass, 
through which they knew the thieves would attempt to go, but 
when they reached the pass they found the Indians had pre- 
ceded them and had left a red flag planted upon the mountain 
near by. They immediately abandoned pursuit and returned 
home. 

Upon being asked why they abandoned their pursuit they 
replied that that flag meant a fight with an armed force of 
Comanches in the event they went beyond ; that the Comanches 
claimed the mountains as a line which set aside to them all the 
region to the north and west of this pass under an ancient 
treaty with the Spaniards (evidently the treaty above referred 
to), and any thieving Indian band, who could get their stolen 
property safely across that line, was protected by the whole 
tribe. They relied upon this old treaty to give legal color to 
their robberies. 



As Told in County Names 




CATHEDRAL DE SAN FERNANDO 



BEXAR. 



This name was given in honor of the Duke of Bexar to the 
presidio, established in 1718, and to the villa, established in 
1731, the two forming one settlement on the San Antonio River 
at the site of the modern city of San Antonio. 

Bexar was a town in Spain, about twenty miles south of 
Madrid, and was long the seat of a dukedom. The nephew-in- 
law and principal lieutenant of Cortez was a Duke of Bexar in 
1521. In 1604 Cervantes dedicated his celebrated work, "Don 
Quixote," to another Duke of Bexar. 

The Duke, in whose honor the present name Bexar was 
given, was born at Madrid in 1713 and was the second son of 
Philip V, the then reigning sovereign. Upon the death of his 
elder brother, Louis, he became Prince of Asturias, heir ap- 
parent to the throne. His mother died in 1716, and in the 



10 The History and Geography of Texas 

same year Philip married his second wife. The intrigues of 
the young- Duke's stepmother to have one of her own children 
preferred to the throne caused much indignation throughout 
Spain and France, Philip V being the first Bourbon king of 
Spain, and in the midst of this general sympathy the settle- 
ment of San Antonio took place. He ascended the throne as 
Ferdinand VI (Fernando) in 1746, and died in 1759. 

The County of Bexar and the Cathedral San Fernando de 
Bexar, fronting one of the main plazas of the city, now com- 
memorate his name and title. It was during this period also 
that the name Nuevas Philippinas was given to the province 
of Texas, but the name "Texas" had become a geographical 
name a quarter of a century previously and the name Nuevas 
Philippinas soon fell into disuse. 

GALVESTON. 

There were three distinguished Spaniards of this name, Jose 
de Galvez, Matias de Galvez, and Bernardo de Galvez. 

Jose de Galvez, brother of Viceroy Matias de Galvez, was 
born of poor parents in Velez-Malega in 1729. He was edu- 
cated at the University of Alcala, and later became private 
secretary of Marques de Grimaldi. In 1761, while an intendant 
in the royal army, he was sent to Mexico as visitador general, 
with instructions to inspect and reorganize the administration. 
In 1764 he was given powers superior to those of the viceroy, 
and before his return to Spain, in 1771, he supervised the ex- 
pulsion of the Jesuits from Mexico and sent out the Portola 
expedition to occupy Alta California. He also recommended 
the establishment of the intendant system in Mexico and the 
organization of the Provincias Internas, which reforms were 
carried out after his return to Spain. In 1768 he was made a 
member of the Council of the Indies, and later became Ministro 
Universal de Indies, which position he held until his death, in 
1787. He was also given the title of Marques de Sonora. 

Matias de Galvez, forty-eighth viceroy of Mexico, was a 
brother of Jose de Galvez. In 1783, after having served as 



As Told in County Names 



11 



governor and captain-general of Guatemala, he was promoted 
to the vice-royalty of Mexico. He died the next year. In rec- 
ognition of the services he had rendered, the king decreed that 
no residencia should be held, or, as we would say in America, 
public business was suspended in his honor. 



Bernardo de Galvez (Conde de Galvez), forty-ninth viceroy, 
son of Matias de Galvez, forty-eighth viceroy. Before going 
to Louisiana he had been a dashing soldier in Durango and 
Chihuahua. (His career in 
Louisiana can be learned 
from Gayarre's Louisiana.) 
At the time of his father's 
death, in 1785, Bernardo was 
captain-general of Havana, as 
well as of Louisiana and Flor- 
ida. He reached Vera Cruz 
May 26, 1785, and took pos- 
session of his office in Mexico 
June 17. He was accompan- 
ied by his young and beauti- 
ful wife, Felicitas Saint Max- 
ent, a French woman, a na- 
tive of New Orleans. His in- 
auguration was brilliant, as 
was his whole career. 

His short rule was marked 
bj^ two calamities in the form 

of a famine (1785) and an epidemic (1786). He instituted im- 
portant military reforms, continued building the great high- 
way to Acapulco, and rebuilt the palace of Chapultepec. Be- 
cause of his great popularity, he was feared at court in 
Spain, some even predicting that he would make Mexico inde- 
pendent. 

Becoming suddenly ill, on November 8, he delivered the civil 
rule to the regent, retaining the military command. He died 
November 30, 1786, after a rule of one year and five months. 
(Los Gobernantes de Mexico.) 




12 The History and Geography of Texas 

During the war between Great Britain and her American 
colonies he rendered signal service by furnishing- supplies, cap- 
turing Mobile and Pensacola from the British, and in various 
other ways. As a mark of appreciation of this service his por- 
trait was presented to the Congress of the United States as 
one worthy to adorn the capitol, and was accepted in warm 
words of appreciation. A detailed account of his services to 
the colonies is given in Winsor's "Westward Movement." The 
portrait was destroyed by the British when they burned the 
capitol, in 1814. 

GARZA. 

This county was named for the Garza family in San Antonio, 
a family which had been identified with that city for nearly 
two centuries. On the maternal side they are lineal descend- 
ants of Madam Rabaina Betancourt, who came with the first 
settlers in 1731. Geronimo Garza, the paternal ancestor, came 
later and married a descendant of Madam Betancourt, and 
from this marriage sprang a long line of this distinguished an- 
cestry, identified throughout the long history of that city with 
its civil, military and commercial activities, and is now one 
of the most highly respected and useful connections of the city. 

Their loyalty to Texas as a province of Spain, a State of 
Mexico, of the United States, and of the Southern Confeder- 
acy, inspired the Legislature of Texas, in 1876, to erect a mon- 
ument to the memory of the family by naming a county 
"Garza." 



As Told in County Names 



13 




GOLIAD. 



This word means "gigantic," (large) from Goliath of Gath, 
the giant of the Philistines. Prior to 1829 the presidio and 
mission and the little settlements around it were known as La 
Bahia, meaning "the bay." 

In 1722 a presidio and mission was established on the site 
of La Salle's old fort near the bay. It was given the name 
"Nuestra Sanctissima Senora Maria de Loreto la Bahia del Es- 
piritu Santo" (our Most Holy Lady Mary of Loreto of the Holy 
Ghost of the Bay). 

It remained but a few years here, when it was moved up 
the valley to a spot that is now in Victoria County. In 1749 it 
was moved over to the San Antonio River, the present site, 
and in the course of time all of the name, except La Bahia, fell 
into disuse, but it was now far away from the bay, and in 1829 
the Congress of Coahuila and Texas concluded to do away with 
the paradoxical name and to preserve some trace of the large 
presidio, named it Goliad. 



14 The History and Geography of Texas 

GUADALUPE. 

This county was named for the Guadakipe River. This was 
one of the rivers named by Alonzo de Leon on his first expe- 
dition to Texas in 1689, as told in the diary of that expedition : 

"Thursday, the 14th (April), we moved forward in search 
of a great river, which the guide told us we should find, and 
which we reached at 2 in the afternoon. ''' * * The river 
has a good ford ; its banks are covered with timber. We gave 
this river the name of 'Our Lady of Guadalupe,' whom we had 
brought from Coahuila as our protectress, and whom we had 
painted on our royal standard." 

HIDALGO. 

This county was named in honor of the patriot priest, 
Miguel Hidalgo. He was born in the province of Guanajuato, 

May 8, 1753. At an early age he 

was sent to the College of San 

^ Nicolas, at Valladolid, where he be- 

cam.e distinguished as a student. 
He was then sent to the City of 
Mexico. In 1778 and 1779 he 
there studied and had conferred 
upon him the degree of Bachelor 
of Theology. On his return to Val- 
ladolid he obtained, by successive 
appointments as cura, two of the 
richest benefices of the diocese, 
and finally became cura of Dolores, 
with a stipend of $10,000 to $12,000 and devoted himself to a 
variety of occupations independent of his clerical duties, and 
studied the sciences, French philosophical works (being a 
French scholar), political economy, and gave critical study to 
the doctrines propounded in the unorthodox works. This loos- 
ened the hold of the church on many of the non-essentials in 
its doctrines and led him into a detestation of the despotism of 
the ruling powers. 




As Told in County Names 15 

On the 14th of September, 1810, he issued his famous Grito 
de Dolores, or war cry for Hberty, and launched the revolution 
which was to free Mexico from the thraldom of Spain. After 
several victories over the royal troops he was finally defeated 
in January, 1811, at the battle known as the "Bridge of Cal- 
deron." Later he himself was captured and executed at Chi- 
huahua, July 31, 1811. His head was severed from his body, 
sent to Guanajuato and suspended in an iron cage by the royal- 
ists, while his body was buried in Chihuahua, where it remained 
until 1823, when, by order of Congress, it was transferred, 
with his skull, to the Cathedral in the City of Mexico in the 
Chapel las Reyes, the famous burial place of the viceroys 
and later of the Presidents of the Republic of Mexico. In 
1823 a monument was erected in Chihuahua in memory of Hi- 
dalgo and other leaders, and in 1863 Juarez raised Dolores to 
the rank of a city and ordered erected in the principal square 
a statue to Hidalgo's memory. In 1873 the Congress of Mex- 
ico decided that the national flag should be raised on the 8th 
day of May in commemoration of his birthday, and President 
Diaz caused the statue to be erected in 1878 at a cost of $40,000. 

LA SALLE. 

This county was named for Robert Cavalier Sieur de la Salle, 
who was born in the village of Rouen, Normandy, November 
11, 1643. He was educated for the priesthood, but his aspira- 
tions turning in another direction, he went to Canada with the 
object of discovering an overland passage to China. 

After spending several years in exploring Lake Ontario and 
Lake Erie, he returned to France and obtained from the king, 
to whom Canada had reverted after the dissolution of the West 
India Company, the grant of Fort Frontenac, the spot where 
the city of Kingston now stands. On condition of keeping up 
that fort, he received a grant of a wide circuit of neighboring 
country and the exclusive right to trade with the Iroquois In- 
dians, as a check against whom the fort had been built, but his 
restless disposition was not thus to be satisfied. 

He left his fur trade, his fields, his cattle, his Indian depend- 



16 The History and Geography of Texas 

ents at Fort Frontenac and again returned to France to obtain 
a royal commission to discover the Mississippi River, and also 
a grant of a monopoly of the trade in buffalo skins. Success- 
ful in this mission he returned to Fort Frontenac with men and 
stores to prosecute his enterprise, accompanied by Chevalier 
Tonti, a veteran of the Italian wars, who was to be his lieu- 
tenant. 

This was in the summer of 1678. Before winter he had as- 
cended Lake Ontario and entered the Niagara River. Passing 
around the falls, he selected a spot at the east end of the Lake 
Erie, near where the city of Buffalo now stands. Here he built 
a boat of sixtj^ tons, called the Griffin. He equipped it with 
cordage and sails, and on the 17th of August, 1779, she plowed 
her way up Lake Erie, bearing La Salle, Tonti, Father Henne- 
pin, and several other friars of the Recollect order. Thirty sail- 
ors, boatmen, hunters, and soldiers made up the remainder of 
the company. Having entered Detroit, "the strait" or river at 
the head of the lake, they passed through it into the limpid 
sheet of water to which La Salle gave the name Lake St. Clair. 
Through this they ascended through another strait into Lake 
Huron, and through the length of that lake by the Strait of 
Mackinaw into Lake Michigan and into Green Bay, and after 
a voyage of twenty days cast anchor at its head, thus tracing 
what is now probably the greatest highway in American com- 
merce, if we embrace the Welland Canal. From here the Griffin 
was sent back to Fort Frontenac, loaded with the most valu- 
able furs, in order that she might bring back supplies, but she 
was shipwrecked on her homeward passage. 

In the meantime La Salle, with his company, proceeded in 
birch canoes up Lake Michigan to the mouth of St. Joseph's 
River, where there was a Jesuit mission, and built a fort. He 
then crossed over to a branch of the Illinois River, down which 
they descended, and on its banks, below where 'Peoria now 
stands, they built a second fort, and called it Crevecoeur 
(heart-break) to signify their disappointment at the non-ar- 
rival of the Griffin, of which nothing had yet been heard. 

La Salle then determined to return to Fort Frontenac on 
foot, and took with him five attendants. Upon his arrival at 



As Told in County Names 17 

Fort Frontenac he found things in the greatest confusion, him- 
self reported dead and his property seized by creditors. 

Tonti, in the meantime, had been attacked by an overwhelm- 
ing force of Indians and had fled back to Green Bay, and the 
two forts were entirely deserted. 

Upon La Salle's return with supplies and recruits, he built 
another fort, which he called St. Louis, and again returned to 
Fort Frontenac, encountering Tonti on the waj^ He collected 
a new company at Fort Frontenac and returned to Illinois, and 
in 1682 rigged a small barge in which he descended to the Gulf. 
When he reached the mouth of the Mississippi he took formal 
possession in the name of his king and named the country Lou- 
isiana. 

He then made his way back to Quebec, leaving Tonti in 
charge of Fort St. Louis, and returned to France a third time, 
whither the news of his discovery had preceded him and cre- 
ated great expectations. 

His wonderful achievements, under so many difficulties and 
misfortunes, made him a great favorite of the king, in spite 
of the representations of the enemies he had made by his harsh 
temper and domineering disposition in his business transac- 
tions, as well as with his subordinates in his exploring expe- 
ditions. The king furnished him a frigate and three other 
ships, on board of which he took five priests, twelve gentlemen, 
fifty soldiers, a number of mechanics and a small supply of ag- 
ricultural implements. They were furnished with tools, and in all 
about four hundred persons designed for a colony at the mouth 
of the Mississippi River. 

Informed of La Salle's departure from France, Tonti left 
Fort St. Louis, in Illinois, and went down the Mississippi River 
to the mouth of the Arkansas Ri\'er. 

In sailing for the mouth of the Mississippi La Salle came too 
far west and landed on the coast at Matagorda Bay, in Feb- 
ruary, 1685, evidently a mistake in calculating longitude, from 
defective instruments, Belisle having made the same mistake 
thirty-four years later. (See Angelina.) He built a fort on 
Garcitas River, some twelve miles west of Lavaca River, nam- 
ing it Fort St. Louis, with quarters for his colonists. In the 



18 The History and Geography of Texas 

vain hope of finding the Mississippi River he made several jour- 
neys eastward, and in 1687 was killed by some of his own men, 
and his bones lie in some unknown spot near the present City 
of Navasota. 

For a most interesting and reliable account of the location 
of the old fort, and the location of La Salle's murder, see Dr. 
Bolton, in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. XIX. 

MEDINA. 

In writing of De Leon's first expedition into Texas, Bancroft 
(The North Mexican States, Vol. I, p. 400) says: 

"Leon started from Monclova, March 23, 1689. Crossing the 
Rio Del Norte above the Salado Junction, he crossed and named 
on his way northeastward the rivers Nueces, Hondo, Medina, 
and Guadalupe." 

The translated diary of De Leon, given in the Quarterly of 
the Texas Historical Association, Vol. V, tells us that the river 
was named Medina April 11, 1689, but does not give the person 
for whom named. The sergeant major of the expedition was 
one Medina. The author of the tables used in determining lat- 
itude and longitude on their journey was Medina, and this was 
probably the reason for the name given to the river. 



NOLAN. 

The chief interest which centers in this name arises from the 
exaggerated importance of Philip Nolan's visit to Texas for 
the purpose of gathering wild horses, and his murder by the 
Spaniards in March, 1801. 

Of his antecedents prior to 1791 we know nothing. Dr. Ed- 
ward Everett Hale, in 'The Real Philip Nolan," quotes 
an afiidavit to the eff'ect that one Leal became acquainted with 
Nolan in 1791, and a memorandum of a transaction by which 
General Wilkinson exchanged $2,000 worth of goods for 12,000 
acres of land with one Hunt in 1796, through Nolan as 
his agent, would indicate that Nolan was at least twenty- 



As Told in County Names 19 

one years old, yet Dr. Hale quotes from a letter received 
from Hon. Jno. Mason Brown, which stated that Philip 
Nolan was born in Frankfort, Kentucky. The ground upon 
which Frankfort is situated was not surveyed until 1773, 
and Frankfort was not laid out until 1787. The conclusion, 
therefore, is that Nolan must have been born as early as the 
year 1764, and was not, therefore, a native of Kentucky, the 
first settlem.ent in which was not made until 1774. 

His connection with General Wilkinson probably began at 
Lexington, Ky., as early as 1785, when Wilkinson established 
the first dry goods store in that place. Wilkinson, after the 
close of the Revolutionary War, resigned his ofiice as brigadier 
general and went to Lexington. He organized the Lexington 
Light Infantry, the first military company in Kentucky, which 
years later became famous. The Indians gave great trouble in 
that region and he frequently commanded this company in 
expeditions, going up into Ohio once or twice. His frequent 
absences from his business necessitated the employment of some 
reliable, competent manager, and it is altogether probable that 
Nolan became his manager. The commercial transactions of 
the region, at that time, were carried on by a system of barter, 
or exchange of goods for buff'alo hides and the skins of fur- 
bearing animals, bacon, flour, hams, dried meat and other pro- 
ducts of the region. The only practicable way of disposing of 
such things was to load them into boats and carry them down 
the river to New Orleans. 

In 1786, although at least one such boatload of products had 
been captured and confiscated at Natchez, Wilkinson deter- 
mined to try this method of disposing of his goods, and he suc- 
ceeded. It is more than probable that he took Nolan with him 
in the hazardous journey and left him as his representative at 
New Orleans. While Spain had closed the Mississippi River to 
American commerce, it seems that both he and Nolan had found 
favor with the Spanish authorities and that Nolan, without 
opposition from the authorities, had established the business 
of bringing horses from Texas and disposing of them. 

His experience in such business commended him to Gov- 
ernor Carondelet, who was then organizing a cavalry regiment 



20 The History and Geography of Texas 

at New Orleans, to engage Nolan's services in procuring the 
horses. Nolan's previous visits to Texas, it seems, did not re- 
quire him to carry passports, but a permit to enter Texas, 
signed by the general of the department to which Texas be- 
longed, would probably exempt him from paying the tax per 
head then in vogue. Just what were the contents of this so- 
called passport we shall probably never know, as the document 
was upon Nolan's person when he was killed, but we are war- 
ranted in assuming that his authority to re-enter Texas and 
gather horses was ample. His papers were examined at the in- 
stance of the Spanish authorities by the proper officers at 
Natchez, again by the commanding officer at Arkansas Post, 
and he was adjudged to have the proper authority for re-enter- 
ing Texas. 

Just why Gayoso, the immediate successor of Carondelet, 
should be so bitterly opposed to Nolan's second expedition, finds 
its possible solution in the following facts : 

The Spaniards, ever since the treaty of 1763, had occupied 
Natchez and other places on the east bank of the Mississippi 
by the mere sufferance, first of England, then of the United 
States. President Adams determined to take possession for the 
United States, and in 1798, having appointed Wilkinson com- 
mander-in-chief of the army, he organized the Mississippi Terri- 
tory and appointed Winthrop Sergeant Governor and gave or- 
ders to Wilkinson to dispossess the Spaniards from all their posts 
on that side of the river. This angered the Spaniards and they 
determined to pursue the retaliatory policy of excluding Amer- 
icans from Spanish territory, and this was the state of afi'airs 
when Nolan was preparing for his second entry into Texas. 

His intention to return to Texas was no secret, and armed 
with the proper documents from the proper authorities he or- 
ganized an escort, consisting of seven rancheros (Mexican ex- 
perts in catching wild horses), eighteen young men armed for 
protection against the savages, and two cooks. Gayoso, with- 
out oflfering any resistance to Nolan's so-called invasion of Texas, 
annoyed him in all sorts of ways, and to get rid of such an- 
noyance Nolan crossed the river up at Walnut Mills, some dis- 
tance above Natchez, proceeded on his way to Texas, presented 



As Told in County Names 21 

his passports to the officers at Arkansas Post and was permit- 
ted, without molestation, to proceed to his destination. 

When he had arrived at a suitable place he erected a block- 
house for protection against the Indians, built his horse pens 
and had collected about 300 horses, when early one morning 
in March, 1801, a squadron of one hundred and fifty men rode 
up and demanded the surrender of himself and his men. He 
refused to surrender, and the attack began. He was killed 
early in the fight. 

While on his way to Texas, Nolan was followed by a squad- 
ron of horsemen at a safe distance in the rear, and while he 
was stopping at Arkansas Post his trusted guide, one Mordecai 
Richards, deserted him and returning to Concordia parish made 
a voluntary affidavit, in which he said Nolan admitted to him 
that he was going to take his horses back to Kentucky, and as 
soon as he sold them he would organize a force of men, return 
and conquer Texas, and upon this flimsy testimony, and Gay- 
oso's persistent slanders to General de Nava, Nolan was finally 
murdered. 

It is noted that the testimony against Nolan is from Spanish 
sources alone, except the narrative of Peter Ellis Bean, chiefly 
devoted to his marvelous exploits in Mexico in later years. 

After Nolan's death his rancheros very naturally deserted to 
the Spaniards. Richards and two others had deserted, and the 
other members of Nolan's escort were put in irons and finally 
taken to Chihuahua, where only nine remained, one of whom 
was executed. No tidings of the fate of the others were ever 
heard, except of Peter Ellis Bean and David Fero, who rose to 
the command of regiments in the revolution of Mexico against 
Spain a few years later. 

Nolan's visit has been magnified as the first filibustering ex- 
pedition in Texas. 

The Legislature of Texas, in honor of this, the first American 
victim in Texas to Spanish treachery, created and named the 
county for Nolan in 1876. 



22 The History and Geography of Texas 



PRESIDIO. 

This word means "a fortress garrisoned by soldiers." For 
the protection of some missions established on the Mexican 
side of the Rio Grande a presidio was erected. Around this a 
settlement grew up and the name "Presidio" was attached to 
it. When the territory on the Texas side of the river was or- 
ganized into a county, in 1875, the name "Presidio" was 
given to it. 

REFUGIO. 

This county was named for the Mission "Our Lady of 
Refuge," in honor of the Virgin Mary. 

It was established in 1791, in what is now Refugio County, 
about fifteen miles north of Copano Bay. The mission was es- 
tablished at the instance of Galvez, who desired its establish- 
ment for the double purpose of Christianizing the coast Indians 
of that region and to prevent smuggling. As a mission it was 
a failure, the record showing, in 1793, that there were only 
sixty-seven Indians there. The buildings were of stone, but 
it was in ruins in 1835, when the Texans, who were occupying 
it, made a spirited resistance, killing and wounding about 200 
Mexicans. There is scarcely any visible trace of the mission 
there now, 

SAN AUGUSTINE. 

In 1756 there was established on the Trinity River a pre- 
sidio which was called San Augustine de Ahumada, named in 
honor of Saint Augustine. There was a small mission on Ayish 
Bayou, which runs south through the modern county of San 
Augustine, which was connected with the Presidio San Au- 
gustine de Ahumada. It was abandoned about the same time 
(1772). 



As Told in County Names 



23 




SAN JACINTO. 

San Jacinto County was named in honor of the great battle 
which was fought near the stream of the name, April 21, 1836. 

The stream was named in memory of Saint Hyacinth, the 
anglicised form of San Jacinto. The name is of ancient origin, 
with a beginning among the myths of ancient Greece in a story 
which runs as follows : 



24 The History and Geography of Texas 

"One day Apollo saw a shepherd boy making sweet music 
upon a pipe he was playing. He drew near him and asked, 
'What is thy name, noble lad?' The lad replied, 'Hyacinthus.' 
'Thy name is well suited to thee. Let me play upon thy pipe,' 
said Apollo. 

"Apollo made such sweet music upon the pipe that even the 
brook that flowed down near-by paused in a quiet pool to listen. 

"Apollo finally returned the pipe, saying, 'Hyacinthus, I like 
you. We will be friends, and you shall go with me to the palace 
of King Admetus.' 

" 'But,' said Hyacinthus, 'what will become of my sheep? I 
must not leave them. No, no, Apollo, I cannot go with you.' 

"Apollo then said to him, 'Noble youth, I love you the better, 
because you prefer duty to pleasure. I go, but tomorrow I will 
come again.' 

"Apollo came, and for many happy days they played and 
talked and learned to love each other as the best of friends. One 
day they were playing a game of quoits, each wishing that the 
other might win. Apollo picked up the discus and, making a 
good throw, would have won but for a sad accident. Zephyrus, 
the god of the west wind, blew the discus so that it hit Hya- 
cinthus on the forehead. Apollo rushed forward and lifted the 
head of the youth from the ground, but it was too late, Hya- 
cinthus was dead. To preserve the memory of his friend, Apollo 
caused to spring up on the edge of the brook that flowed by, the 
flower which bears his name — the 'hyacinth.' " 

The name was kept green in the memory of the Spartans in 
their religious rites and festivals to impress the lesson that 
duty comes before pleasure. 

As the ages passed it became a common name among the 
early Christians. In the latter part of the twelfth century 
there was born of a noble family in Silesia a son, who, evinc- 
ing at a very early age great qualities of mind and heart, was 
christened Hyacinth. He was carefully educated at Bologna 
and became converted to the Dominican teachings. He took 
the vows of that order at Rome in August, 1257, and traveled 
as a missionary in Northern Europe and to him, more than any 
other person, is credited the spread of Christian influences 



As Told in County Names 25 

through that region. He traveled on foot for forty years among 
the fierce tribes of that country and achieved worldwide fame. 
He died at a monastery in Cracow and was canonized several 
centuries later. 

The story is that friars from the Presidio San Augustine 
de Ahumada, on the lower Trinity, explored the coast during 
the period, 1751-1772, and coming to this stream, endeavored 
to make their way up, but found it so choked with water hya- 
cinths they were unable to push their boats through it and 
called it the hyacinth stream, honoring it with the name of St. 
Hyacinth, or San Jacinto. 

That these hyacinths have from time to time been so dense 
upon the bosom of the stream as to obstruct navigation, there 
are many evidences. The latest is contained in the official re- 
port of Capt. J. C. Oaks, in 1908, to the Committee of Rivers 
and Harbors of the United States Congress, in which he says: 

On August 9, 1907, water hyacinths were discovered in Buf- 
falo Bayou and vicinity, and an allotment of $500 was made, 
November 4, 1907, to destroy them and prevent them becoming 
an obstruction to navigation. 



SAN SABA 

Authors of respectability have defined this as Holy Savior 
(San Salvador), but a rather careful investigation and inquir- 
ies among Spanish scholars and Catholic priests lead to the con- 
clusion that the name comes from San Sabada (Holy Saturday) 
and that the stream by that name was known among the Span- 
iards prior to the establishment of a mission near its banks in 
1757, and it is more than probable that the stream was discov- 
ered on Holy Saturday (San Sabada), and according to custom 
in naming streams was called San Saba in honor of that day. 

Where the mission was established is near the town of Men- 
ardville, in Menard County. 

The following from Bancroft's History contains a brief ac- 
count of the mission and presidio established near by : 

"It had been decided to establish a presidio with one hundred 



26 The History and Geography of Texas 

men on the Rio San Saba, The expedition, inckiding five 
padres, reached Bejar at the end of 1756 and proceeded in April, 
1757, to the new field. The presidio was called in the vice- 
roy's honor, San Saba de las Amarillas, and the Mission San 
Saba was located a league and a half distant on the river. The 
Apaches' were pleased and friendly, but declined, under one 
pretense or another, to congregate at the mission. The real 
motive of the Lipanes (Apaches) for the founding of a pre- 
sidio and missions was to utilize the Spaniards as allies against 
the Comanches and other tribes by whom they were hard 
pressed. The northern inland bands, crediting the Apache 
boast of their new alliance, became bitterly hostile to the Span- 
iards and formed a league to defeat them. The Apaches gave 
warning of the approaching design, which caused so much terror 
at the different forts that but little attention was given to the 
protection of San Saba. On the 16th of March, 1758, the sav- 
ages appeared some thousand strong under the command of a 
Comanche chief at the mission. Too late to effect a surprise, 
they obtained admittance by pretending friendship, and soon 
began their work of destruction. The buildings were plun- 
dered and burned. The only survivors were Pedro Molina and 
two or three soldiers, who managed to conceal themselves, and 
escaped at midnight. Only a few Apaches were present to 
share the disaster." 

TRINITY. 

Spanish, Trinidad, "the union of three persons, the Father, 
the Son and Holy Ghost, in one Godhead, so that all three are 
one God, as to substance, but three persons as to individuality." 
Adopted as a geographical name in all Latin-American coun- 
tries. 

The Spanish first crossed this stream in 1690 under De Leon 
and again in 1691 under Teran. The river, from which the 
county took its name, was probably named on one of these ex- 
peditions. The mission of that name was established later. 



As Told in County Names 27 



UVALDE. 

This county took its name from Uvalde Canyon, named for 
Juan de Ugalde, governor of Coahuila in 1778, with the addi- 
tional power of commandante of arms in 1786. 

The Apache Indians had been very troublesome on both sides 
of the Rio Grande, making forays upon the missions and set- 
tlements, robbing and plundering and retreating to the can- 
yons and mountain fastnesses, where they had baffled all efforts 
to subdue them. Governor Ugalde, soon after he had the mil- 
itary power conferred on him, pursued a raiding band and over- 
took them at this canyon, where a stubborn fight ensued. The 
Indians were so completely routed that they abandoned this 
region entirely. 

In honor of that event the stream was afterward known as 
the Ugalde (changed to Uvalde) canyon. When the county was 
organized, in 1856, it was named for this canyon. 



28 



The History and Geography of Texas 



VICTORIA. 



Guadalupe Victoria was first President of the Republic of 
Mexico. The town and municipality of Victoria were named in 
his honor. 

He was a native of Durango, 
and an active participant in the 
struggle of Mexico against 
Spain. As the organized armies 
of the revolutionists were, one 
after another, dispersed by the 
royalists, he organized small 
bands and kept up a guerilla 
warfare. 

His real name was Juan Felix 
Fernandez, but during the war 
he changed it, taking as his first 
name Guadalupe, in honor of the 
Virgin patroness of Mexico, and 
Victoria as his surname to com- 
memorate a victory over the 
Spaniards. He was an alumnus 
of the College of San Ildefonso 
of the City of Mexico, a consistent federalist during his entire 
career, and was a universal favorite in Mexico, and particu- 
larly of Tamaulipas, whose capital bears his name. He was in- 
augurated President of Mexico October 10, 1824. During his 
administration there occurred no national outbreak and his ca- 
reer as President was a great success. He retired from office 
April 1, 1829. 

After his retirement from the presidential office Victoria 
was elected Governor of Puebla, which office he resigned to 
become Senator for his native state, Durango. 

In 1839 he was one of the two plenipotentiaries to negotiate 
peace with France, after which he retired to private life and 
died March 21, 1843. 

His portrait adorns the national gallery in the City of Mexico. 




As Told in County Names 



29 




TAMAULIPAS 



COLONIAL TEXAS. 
1822 to 1836. 



30 The History and Geography of Texas 

CHAPTER 11. 

THE ANGLO-AMERICAN COLONIZATION OF TEXAS. 

With the beginning and rise of the Republic of Mexico, the 
settlement of Texas may be said to have begun. It had its in- 
ception during the Spanish regime, when Moses Austin ob- 
tained permission to settle three hundred families, January, 
1821. Moses Austin died in June, 1821, and his son and suc- 
cessor, Stephen F. Austin, took charge of the enterprise and 
carried it to a successful termination. 

In order to understand more readily the difficulties under 
which Austin labored in preserving his rights under the con- 
cession to his father, a statement in brief of some of the prin- 
cipal events of Mexican history, affecting his concession, is 
given. 

On the 21st of January, 1821, the concession to Moses Aus- 
tin was made by royal authority. In August. 1821, Mexico be- 
came an independent nation. In May, 1822, Iturbide became 
Emperor and a national legislative body was assembled, called 
the "Junta Nacional Instituyente." In January, 1823, this 
body confirmed the rights of Austin, but held that Martinez 
had no authority to make terms as to the quantity of land the 
colonists should receive. 

A national colonization law was passed in January, 1823, 
and finally decreed by the Emperor in February, 1823. On the 
19th of March, 1823, Iturbide abdicated. The original conces- 
sion to Moses Austin was again confirmed, April 11, 1823. 

The terms arranged for the distribution of land to settlers 
between Austin and Governor Martinez were, for 640 acres to 
the head of a family, 320 for the wife, 150 for each child, 80 
for each slave introduced. As this was held to be unauthor- 
ized, the quantities substituted were, a sitio (a league) or 2.62+ 
miles square for pasturage purposes, and a labor, or 177 acres 
for farming land, called a labor, as. that was the part upon 
which it was contemplated the settlers were to do their labor. 

Under this law Austin's rights were secure, with the advan- 



As Told in County Names 31 

tage to his colonists of a sitio (or league) and labor, or 4,605 
acres, to heads of families, instead of 640, as under the terms 
he had arranged with Martinez, and 1,107 acres, or one-fourth 
of a league, to single men. 

This law further provided that the Empresario, or person 
who contracted with the executive to introduce settlers, should 
receive for his services a premium at the rate of five sitios or 
leagues and five labors (or 23,025 acres) of land for each hun- 
dred families introduced, a great advantage to Austin, whose 
compensation, under the Martinez arrangement was to be paid 
by settlers. 

In February, 1824, the National Congress, then assembled, 
conferred on the respective State Legislatures the power to 
form colonization laws, and on the 24th of March, 1825, the 
general colonization law of Coahuila and Texas was decreed 
regulating the settlement of the country. 

As under this law the rights of settlers were created and 
defined and the Spanish or Mexican land system was engrafted 
on Texas institutions, some of its most noteworthy features 
are here mentioned. 

First, settlements were prohibited within ten leagues (26.624- 
miles) of the coast and within twenty leagues (53-f miles) of 
the boundary of the United States, without the expressed con- 
sent of the National Executive. This forbidden area has been 
very inaptly called the "Littoral and the Border Leagues." 

Second, provision was made for the formation of towns, and 
four leagues (17,712 acres) of land were granted to each town, 
an old Spanish law that had its origin in Chapter XXXV of 
the Book of Numbers, where it was provided that each city 
established for the Levites should receive a large area around 
it for common use. 

Under this law each empresario was required to select a 
townsite, and for Austin's colony San Felipe de Austin was 
selected. Gonzales became the town of DeWitt's colony; Vic- 
toria of De Leon's colony; San Patricio of the Irish colony; 
Nashville of Robertson's colony. As this is no longer on the 
map, its location was in Milam County, on a high bluff over- 
looking the Brazos Valley, where the International & Great 



32 The History and Geography of Texas 

Northern Railroad crosses that river. Each of these townsites 
were, without exception, among the most beautiful in Texas. 

Under the law, thirty contracts were made, the concessions 
covering the entire area of Texas, all of Coahuila east of the 
Rio Grande, nearly all of Oklahoma, and part of Kansas, but 
as nothing was accomplished under most of the contracts, they 
are of no historical importance. 

There were many other provisions of the law, favorable to 
settlers, but these are sufficient to enable a clear understand- 
ing of the history of the period. 

The names of the empresarios and others immediately con- 
nected with the colonization of Texas from 1822-1836 commem- 
orated in county names, are: 

Austin Edwards Robertson 

Bastrop Gonzales San Patricio 

Chambers Leon 

DeWitt McMullen 



As Told in County Names 



33 




AUSTIN. 

This county was named for Stephen F. Austin, "The Father 
of Texas." Within the limits of this county, on a high bluff, 
overlooking the Brazos River, there stands the old village of 
San Felipe de Austin 
where some of the most 
stirring scenes of the colo- 
nial days of Texas were 
enacted. 

Stephen F. Austin was 
born in Wythe County, 
t/^ Virgin ia, November 3, 
1793. At the age of six 
years he went with his fa- 
ther, Moses Austin, to Mis- 
souri, at that time in Span- 
ish territory. At the prop- 
er age he was sent to a 

school at New London, in his father's native state, Connecticut. 
He was prepared for college there and later entered Transylva- 
nia University, at the time the only institution for higher educa- 
tion in the United States west of the Alleghany Mountains. 
After finishing the course he returned home and was elected a 
member of the territorial legislature of Missouri, which terri- 
tory was then taking preparatory steps for becoming a State of 
the Union. The next year he removed to Arkansas Territory 
and was appointed to the ofiice of Circuit Judge. 

In 1821 his father having conceived the idea of colonizing 
a portion of Texas, Stephen F. Austin resigned his office to aid 
him in his work. He then visited New Orleans with a view 
to enlisting financial aid, and in arranging for the transpor- 
tation of supplies by water to the settlers near the coast, and 
had reached Nachitoches on his way to Texas when he re- 
ceived the news of his father's death. As the responsibility 
of carrying out the enterprise had already been placed upon 
him by his father, he proceeded from Nachitoches to Texas 
with fourteen companions under the escort of Seguin and Ver- 



34 The History and Geography of Texas 

amendi, commissioners who had been appointed to receive and 
conduct him into Texas. Upon his arrival at San Antonio he 
was cordially received by Gov. Martinez and was authorized to 
examine different sections of the State for locating his colony. 

After a short time he selected that portion of Texas ex- 
tending from the Lavaca River to the San Jacinto River and 
from the old San Antonio road to the coast, embracing in a 
general way the region now included within the counties of 
Austin, Brazoria, Brazos, Burleson, Colorado, Fort Bend, 
Grimes, Harris, Jackson, Lavaca, Lee, Matagorda, Waller, 
Washington, and Wharton. 

This region had many advantages, among them were its 
great fertility, ample rainfall for agriculture, two navigable 
streams centrally situated, ample fuel, and wood for building 
purposes and fine ranges for stock. 

The general colonization law of Coahuila and Texas for- 
bade settlements within ten leagues of the coast and to make 
the titles of his colonists more certain, Austin contracted with 
the State of Coahuila and Texas, on the 20th of May, 1825, to 
introduce 500 families. It expressly authorized the settle- 
ment of additional families on the vacant land within the 
bounds of his original or Moses Austin concession, and not 
comprehended within the bounds of colonies established by 
other empresarios. The boundaries of this, usually called his 
second contract were: 

"Beginning on the West bank of the San Jacinto River at 
ten border leagues from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico ; thence 
following its course with the right bank of said river to its 
source; thence on a straight line north to the road leading 
from Bexar to Nacogdoches; thence with said road westward 
to a point due north to a point from the headwaters of Labaca 
Creek; thence on a line due south toward the source of said 
creek; thence down said creek to the eastern bank of the same, 
to the boundary line of the ten littoral leagues of the Gulf of 
Mexico; thence eastward leaving clear the ten littoral leagues 
parallel with the coast to the place of beginning." 

This embraced practically all the land in the original or 
Moses Austin concession except the space within ten leagues 



As Told in County Names 35 

of the coast ; in a general way that land is now embraced with- 
in the Counties of Harris, Montgomery, Walker, San Jacinto, 
Madison, Brazos, Grimes, Waller, Austin, Fort Bend, Brazoria, 
Matagorda, Jackson, Colorado, Washington, and Burleson, and 
parts of Lavaca and Fayette. 

Austin's third contract was dated November 20, 1827 and 
was to introduce one hundred families within the following 
limits : 

"Beginning on the eastern bank of the River Colorado at 
the place where the said river is crossed by the road leading 
from Bexar to Nacogdoches ; thence with said eastern bank 
of said river upwards the distance of fifteen leagues; thence 
eastward on a line parallel with said road to the dividing 
ridge of the waters of the Colorado and Brazos which is the 
boundary line between this colony and the colony of the Nash- 
ville Company; thence with the line of the demarcation of that 
colony downwards to the road leading from Bexar to Nacog- 
doches; and thence with this road to the place of beginning." 

This embraced the northwestern half of what is now Bas- 
trop County and the portion of Travis, east of the Colorado 
River and perhaps a small portion of what is now Lee County. 

The term "leagues" is somewhat indefinite. In land meas- 
ure a league was 2.62+ miles square; in ordinary linear measure 
three miles. In either case the site of the present capital of 
Texas was within the bounds of this colonial grant. 

Under the colonization law as it then existed the space 
within ten leagues of the coast might be colonized by the con- 
sent of the President of Mexico. 

To do away with all uncertainty of his right to colonize this 
under the original or Moses Austin concession, he made an- 
other contract June 8, 1826, consented to by the President of 
Mexico on the 2nd of July, 1828, and signed respectively on 
the 12th and 20th of July, 1828. The boundaries of this, al- 
though contemplated that it should embrace the area within 
ten leagues of the coast, was specifically defined as follows : 

"Beginning on the left bank of Labaca Creek at the point 
where it flows into the sea; thence following along the coast 
of the Gulf of Mexico to the point where the San Jacinto 



36 The History and Geography of Texas 

Creek flows into Galveston Bay; thence up the left bank of 
said River San Jacinto the distance of ten leagues; thence to 
the west on a line parallel to the coast to a point on Labaca 
Creek ten leagues distant from the coast; thence with the left 
bank of said Labaca the precise distance or ten leagues to the 
place of beginning." The site of the present city of Houston 
is well within this area. 

On the 25th of February, 1831, Austin and Williams obtain- 
ed another contract to introduce 800 families within the fol- 
lowing limits : 

Beginning on the left bank of Labaca Creek at a distance 
of ten leagues from the coast; thence with said creek upwards 
to its westernmost source; thence on a straight line northeast 
to strike the road leading from Bexar to Nacogdoches known 
as the upper road; thence with this road northeast to the 
River Colorado; thence up said river on the right bank to the 
mouth of Salt or Red Fork ("Brazos, Salado, and Colorado") 
where it enters the same about fifteen leagues above the mouth 
of Pecan or De las Nueces River; thence from the aforesaid 
Salt Fork on a straight line northeast to the height or divid- 
ing ridge of the waters of the Brazos and Trinity Rivers and 
with said ridge south entirely to the principal or main head- 
waters of the River San Jacinto; down this river to the line 
of the ten coast leagues and with said line westwardly to the 
place of beginning." 

It was intended as shown by these boundaries that the con- 
tract should embrace all of Austin's Colonies except the area 
within the ten leagues from the coast and all of the Nashville 
or Robertson Colony, but as nothing was ever done toward 
the fulfilment of the contract and as the Nashville Company 
contract later designated as Robertson's, was adjudged to be 
Robertson's, a further consideration of it is immaterial. (See 
"Robertson.") 

Prior to the adoption of a constitution and the establish- 
ment of a regular government for the State of Coahuila-Tex- 
as, Austin was entrusted with discretionary power in the man- 
agement of his colony. He exercised that power with moder- 
ation and tact but with firmness and wisdom. 



As Told in County Names 37 

After the organization of the state government he was elect- 
ed a member of the legislature from Texas and served 1831- 
1832. He was not in Texas therefore when the troubles arose 
between some of the settlers at Anahuac and the Mexican gar- 
rison stationed there — troubles that resulted in the battle of 
Velasco. He hastened back to Texas and the difficulties were 
soon adjusted, Bustamente having in the meantime been over- 
thrown and superseded by Santa Anna who represented the 
liberal sentiment of Mexico. 

Among other high handed measures adopted during the Bus- 
tamente regime was a law passed by the Federal Congress at 
the City of Mexico prohibiting the further introduction of 
American settlers into Texas. Realizing what a death blow 
this would be to the prospects of Texas, a convention of the 
people was called to meet at San Felipe to take steps to have 
it repealed, and to further other policies necessary to meet 
the demands of a growing population. The convention met, 
and Austin presided over it. It resulted in nothing practical 
in the way of accomplishing the purposes for which it was 
called and in 1833 another was called to meet in the same place. 
This convention memorialized the government of which Santa 
Anna was now the head, among other things, to sever Texas 
from Coahuila and make it a separate state; to repeal the de- 
cree forbidding further introduction of settlers from the Unit- 
ed States into Texas, and other matters, and Austin and two 
others were commissioned to go to the City of Mexico and pre- 
sent the memorial to Santa Anna. Austin alone went, but, 
accomplished nothing beyond securing a repeal of that law; 
this he accomplished with the aid of Lorenzo de Zavala and 
other friends in that city. At that time there was an epidemic 
of cholera in that city as well as in Texas. (See Brown and 
Leon.) In October of that year Austin, although he had not 
succeeded in getting Santa Anna's consent to erect Texas into 
a separate state, wrote to a friend in San Antonio advising 
the people to establish Texas as a separate state and on the 
10th of December he left for Texas. 

His letter to San Antonio having become known in Mex- 
ico, he was, while on his way home, arrested at Monterey and 



38 The History and Geography of Texas 

carried back to the City of Mexico, and on the 15th of Febru- 
ary, 1834, was incarcerated in a dungeon. 

On the 12th of June he was removed to another more com- 
fortable pi i son. In the meantime he demanded a trial. 

His case was submitted to some official who turned it over 
to the Federal Judge, and he sent it to the Supreme Court, 
which disclaimed jurisdiction. Finally in July, 1835, without a 
trial, he was released from prison and arrived in Texas Sep- 
tember 1st, 1835. 

Santa Anna's high-handed usurpations by this time had 
so aroused the people of Texas that they were organizing in 
all parts of the State for defense. A general consultation was 
called to be held at San Felipe in October, 1835. Austin was 
elected a member of this body, but was called to Gonzales on 
the 11th of October and unanimously chosen commander of the 
Texas forces then organized to resist Santa Anna. 

The revolution being now well under way the Consultation 
appointed Austin, William H. Wharton, and Branch T. Archer, 
Commissioners to visit the United States to solicit aid for the 
Texans in their struggle and on the 24th of November Austin 
resigned his commission in the army and left on his mission. 

He remained in the United States doing efficient work un- 
til early in the summer of 1836 when he returned to Texas. 
He permitted his name to be used as a candidate for the Pres- 
idency of the Republic, but was defeated by General Houston. 

In the organization of his cabinet Houston tendered the 
first place to Austin, who accepted it, and in October entered 
upon his duties as Secretary of State. In this position he ac- 
quitted himself with great credit and displayed consummate 
ability. 

In his instructions to the representatives of the Republic at 
Washington he outlined what nine years later formed the 
principal basis of most of the articles of annexation. 

While in the midst of his arduous labors he became ill and 
died Dec. 27, 1836. 

On the day of his death the following order was issued : 

"War Department, Columbia, December 27, 1836. 
"The father of Texas is no m.ore. The first pioneer of the 



As Told in County Names 39 

wilderness has departed. General Stephen F. Austin, Secre- 
tary of State, expired this day at halfpast twelve o'clock, at 
Columbia. 

"As a testimony of respect to his high standing, undeviat- 
ing moral rectitude, and as a mark of the nation's gratitude 
for his untiring zeal and invaluable services, all officers, civil 
and military, are requested to wear crape, on the right arm, 
for the space of thirty days. All officers commanding posts, 
garrisons or detachments will, as soon as information is re- 
ceived of this melancholy event, cause twenty-three guns (one 
for each county in the Republic) to be fired, with an interval 
of five minutes between each ; and also have the garrison and 
regimental colors hung with black, during the space of mourn- 
ing for the illustrious deceased. 

"By order of the President. 

"WILLIAM S. FISHER, Secretary of War." 

A similar order to the navy was issued by S. Rhoads Fish- 
er, Secretary of that department. 

His remains were buried in Brazoria County, but were after- 
wards taken up and reinterred in the State Cemetery of Aus- 
tin, Texas. 

He was never married, but many of his kindred who had 
shared his fortunes in Texas survived him to become promi- 
nent and useful in his later history of Texas. 

BASTROP. 

The name of the old municipality of Mina was changed to 
Bastrop in honor of Baron de Bastrop, called by Saudedo, 
Chief of the Department of Texas in 1827, Don Felipe Henry 
Neri, Baron de Bastrop. 

He was born in Prussia in 1770 and served in the army for 
a short time. Later he offered his services to the King of 
Spain, who sent him on a special mission to Mexico and Louis- 
iana. While in Louisiana he secured a contract to colonize 
over 500,000 acres of land situated between the Mississippi and 
Red Rivers, but when Spain ceded Louisiana to France and 
France ceded it to the United States he transferred his claim 



40 



The History and Geography of Texas 



to Aaron Burr, He then removed to Mexico and finally to San 
Antonio, where he was acting as an alcalde when Moses Aus- 
tin arrived at the place in December, 1820, in the interest of 
his colonial enterprise. 

But for Bastrop's influence with Governor Martinez and 
his intercession for Moses Austin the concession would prob- 
ably not have been considered at all. He had known Moses 
Austin when both were citizens of Louisiana. 

In 1823 he was appointed commissioner to issue titles to 
Austin's colonists, but having to wait for surveys it was not 
until 1824 that he issued any titles. He was twice elected to 
the Congress of Coahuila and Texas, and died at Saltillo while 
serving in that capacity in 1829. 

CHAMBERS. 



General Thomas Jefferson Chambers, in whose honor this 

l^^ county was named, was born in Orange County, Virginia, April 

13, 1802. He was one of a family of twenty children, his 

father having been mar- 
ried twice. He received a 
liberal education in his na- 
tive state, and at the age 
of twenty-four became 
much interested in the ris- 
ing young Republic of Mex- 
ico. He visited the City of 
Mexico and remained there 
three years, studying the 
language, laws and insti- 
tutions of that country. 
In 1829, he was appointed 
Surveyor General of Texas, and was made a full citizen of 
Mexico by Congress. 

On Feb. 12, 1830, he with J. A. Padillo, made a contract 
with the State to introduce eight hundred colonists, but an 
examination of the situation disclosed that the area to be col- 
onized was within the United States, in what is now Oklahoma 




As Told in County Names 41 

and Kansas, so that nothing was done toward the fulfillment 
of the contract. 

He then applied for admission to practice law and was li- 
censed by a special act of Congress. In April, 1834, he was 
appointed Judge of the Superior Court of Texas at a salary 
of $3,000 a year. The Treasury of Coahuila and Texas being 
proverbially empty, he was induced, a little over a year after 
he was appointed and when his first year's salary was over 
due to accept land in lieu of his salary. At that time the 
Congress of Coahuila and Texas had fixed the price of public 
domain at 4 cents per acre to citizens of Mexico, and as he 
was a full-fledged citizen he was authorized to take land, and 
an agreement was made with him by which he was to receive 
land at $100 per league, and the amount due him in June, 1835, 
was thirty leagues, or 132,840 acres. As this transaction has 
been criticised unfavorably by some of the historians and a 
number of his contemporaries, it is due to his memory and to 
his descendants in Texas to give material facts. 

His salary of $3,000 at the end of one year being over-due, 
he received half (or fifteen leagues) of the amount of land 
due him. For his previous services as Surveyor General he 
received five leagues. 

The condition of the country after his appointment and 
other circumstances were such as to render it impossible for 
him to hold any court. The validity of this grant to General 
Chambers was tested by able counsel, and Justice Roberts in 
the case of Chambers vs. Fisk, reported in the twenty-second 
volume of Texas Reports, fully sustained the legality of the 
grant. Eight of the leagues mentioned embraced the land up- 
on which the city of Austin is located. Notwithstanding this, 
successive congresses of the Republic and legislatures of the 
State have never compensated General Chambers nor his heirs 
for the land condemned for the capital city, though the sales 
of lots yielded large sums to the Republic and State. 

When Texas was invaded by the Mexican armies in 1835 
General Chambers went before the Provisional Council and 
proposed to that body that he would hypothecate his lands and 
raise $10,000 to be used in procuring arms and men for the 



42 The History and Geography of Texas 

defense of Texas, His proposition was accepted, and he was 
commissioned Major General for the purpose. He made a 
report of his commission to the Texas Congress in 1837, stat- 
ing that he had sent to Texas 1,916 men, had sold $9,035 of 
bonds and expended $23,621. His report was approved and 
the treasury directed to settle with him accordingly. 

Some of the arms sent in by him were used as late as the 
Civil War, and two of the cannons are now mounted at the 
steps of the Capitol Building at Austin. He took an active 
interest in public affairs afterwards, though he held no polit- 
ical office. 

In 1861, he was elected a member of the secession conven- 
tion, and in 1863 was a candidate for Governor, but was de- 
feated by Pendleton Murrah. He then retired to private life 
at his home in Anahuac and was assassinated there by some 
unknown person, March 13, 1865. His body was interred in 
the cemetery of the Episcopal church at Galveston. 

DEWITT. 

Green DeWitt was born in Kentucky on the 16th day of 
September, 1797. He removed to Missouri in 1819, first settling 
in St. Louis County, and later moved to Ralls County, where he 
was elected sheriff. 

He went to the City of Mexico and later to Saltillo, the 
capital of Coahuila and Texas, and on the 15th day of April, 
1825, obtained a contract to introduce four hundred families 
within the following boundaries : 

"On the north, the old San Antonio road, on the east the 
Lavaca River, and from its head a line extended in the same 
direction as the general course of that river up to the old San 
Antonio road ; on the west a line commencing on said road two 
leagues west of the Guadalupe River and running toward the 
coast at a distance of two leagues west of said river." 

This area embraces in a general way the counties of De- 
Witt, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Caldwell, and parts of Comal, La- 
vaca, Fayette, and Victoria Counties. 

After obtaining his contract, he employed James Kerr to 



As Told in County Names 43 

select the site for a town, to survey the lands, and manage 
the establishment of a colony. Kerr selected a beautiful site 
on the Guadalupe River for the town and named it Gon- 
zales for Rafael Gonzales who was at that time Governor of 
Coahuila-Texas. 

In July, 1826, the little settlement was raided by the savages, 
who killed several of the settlers and the place was abandon- 
ed. Kerr then moved to the west bank of the Lavaca and es- 
tablished his permanent home there. 

Early in 1828 DeWitt, who had been absent most of the 
time, returned to Gonzales, which had remained unoccupied, 
and brought his family, consisting of his wife, two sons, and 
four daughters, and settled there with other inhabitants of 
the place. 

While on a visit to Monclova, he died there May 18, 1835, 



44 



The History and Geography of Texas 



EDWARDS. 



Named in honor of Hayden Edwards, who was born in Staf- 
ford County, Virginia, in 1770. 

Early in hfe his parents moved to Kentucky and he was 

reared there. He was liber- 
ally educated and was a man 
of large means. About the 
year 1815, he moved to Mis- 
sissippi, took with him his 
family and slaves and opened 
up a plantation on Pearl river. 
In 1823, he visited the City of 
Mexico and later made appli- 
cation to introduce eight hun- 
dred settlers in Texas. On 
the 18th of April, 1825, this 
application was granted to 
colonize within the following 
boundaries : Beginning at 
the angle formed by a line 
twenty leagues from Sabine 
and ten leagues from the 
coast of the Gulf of Mexico; 
thence in a northerly direction, passing by the post of Nacog- 
doches to a point fifteen leagues above it; thence another line 
west at right angles with the former, to Navasota Creek ; thence 
with said creek downwards to the upper road leading from Bexar 
to Nacogdoches ; thence with said road east to San Jacinto 
Creek (river), and down said creek to the point where it is 
intersected by the boundary line of the ten border leagues, on 
the coast, which are reserved ; from this point on a line east 
to the place of beginning. 

He immediately proceeded to fulfill his contract. As a con- 
siderable part of the country to be settled had been occupied 
by Spaniards and Mexicans, friction soon arose which he was 
unable to allay. The conflicts which arose finally resulted in 




As Told in County Names 45 

what is known in our history as the "Fredonian War," the an- 
nulment of Edward's contract and his expulsion from Texas. 
He had thirteen children who settled in Texas, as did sev- 
eral brothers who afterwards became prominent and useful 
citizens of Texas, His son, Hayden H. Edwards, represented 
Nacogdoches in the Texas Congress, afterwards in the State 
Legislature and in the Secession Convention in 1861. 

Hayden Edwards, the Empresario, died in 1848, leaving 
many descendants. For a detailed account of the Fredonian 
War see Foote's Texas and Texans and for family data see 
Brown's History of Texas, Volume 1, page 137. 



GONZALES. 

Named for the town of Gonzales, after Rafael Gonzales, 
Governor of Coahuila and Texas in 1825, when DeWitt's col- 
ony was first established. Little is known as to his anteced- 
ants or his career, beyond the fact that his administration 
was without particular incident, generally satisfying to the 
people of Texas. 

LEON. 

This county was named for Martin de Leon, a native of 
Tamaulipas, Mexico, where he was born in 1765 ; in 1795 he 
married in Sota la Marina. In early life he was much en- 
gaged in the wars against Tamaulipas Indians. He entered 
Texas in 1805 and established a ranch on the Aransas River. 
Not being able to get a grant of land there, he moved to the 
east bank on the Nueces, but the Indians became so trouble- 
some, that he removed to San Antonio. He was a zealous par- 
tisan in the revolution against Spain. 

In 1816 he moved to Burgos, in Tamaulipas. In 1823, he 
drove mules from his ranch to New Orleans. He then char- 
tered and loaded the first seagoing craft to arrive at Mata- 
moras. In 1823, he made known his purpose to establish a 
colony on the lower Guadalupe, and received authority to lo- 



46 The History and Geography of Texas 

cate forty-one families upon any vacant land in that vicinity. 
His grant was ratified Oct. 6, 1825. In 1829, he obtained a 
contract to settle one hundred and fifty families within an 
area of ten leagues from the coast, and complied with that 
contract, founding the town of Victoria. He died of cholera 
in 1833. There was some friction between the first settlers 
and those of DeWitt on account of boundaries. 



McMULLEN. 

John McMullen for whom this county was named was born 
in Ireland in 1796 and was well educated, being a graduate 
of Trinity University, Dublin. In 1828, he came to Texas and 
obtained a contract to settle a colony within the following lim- 
its : Beginning on the left bank of the Nueces with the bound- 
ary line of the ten league coast reserve, thence with said bound- 
ary to a point ten leagues distant from La Bahia; thence in a 
straight line to the confluence of the Medina and San Antonio 
Rivers ; thence with the right bank of said river to the old 
Bexar-Presidio road ; thence with said road to the River Nueces ; 
thence west with said river downward on its left bank to the 
beginning." 

This was known as the Irish colony, the territory upon which 
the colony settled embraced in a general way the area of the 
present counties of San Patricio and parts of Bee, Karnes, Wil- 
son and Atascosa. 

Patrick McGloin was his partner in carrying out the con- 
tract. McMullen took an active part in the Texas revolution 
representing San Patricio in the consultation of 1835 and con- 
vention of 1836. In 1849 he removed to California during the 
gold excitement and settled down there with his family and 
amassed considerable wealth. He died about the year 1860. 



As Told in County Names 



47 



ROBERTSON. 



sterling C. Robertson was born in Nasliville, Tennessee, 
October 2, 1785, Tennessee at that time being a part of North 
Carolina. He was the son of Elijah Robertson who accom- 
panied Gen. James Robert- 
son to the present site of 
Nashville and founded that 
city, Elijah being asso- 
ciated with him in that en- 
terprise. Elijah was a 
member of the General As- 
sembly of North Carolina 
in 1789 and represented the 
political fortunes of that 
portion of Tennessee up to 
its admission into the Un- 
ion as a separate state, be- 
ing associated with Thom- 
as Hardeman who was in 
the same assembly and al- 
so a member of the Conven- 
tion of 1788 which met at 

Hillsboro and the Convention of 1789, which met at Fayette- 
ville. North Carolina, to deliberate upon a ratification of the 
United States Constitution. 

Sterling C. Robertson was reared in Nashville with all the 
educational advantages the embryo city afforded. Upon the 
first call for volunteers he enlisted in the volunteer army of 
the United States and served against both the Indians and 
the British, and was finally promoted to the rank of Major 
and served with that rank on the staff of General Carroll at 
the battle of New Orleans, in January, 1815, 

When Mexico achieved her independence from Spain his eye 
was turned to Texas and in 1823, made an extensive tour 
through the province and was charmed with the prospect and 
upon his return to Nashville, determined to cast his fortunes 




48 The History and Geography of Texas 

with the country. In furtherance of his plan he interested him- 
self and others in organizing a company for that purpose. After 
the Congress of the new Republic of Mexico had given over the 
matter of colonization to the states, Robert Leftwich was sent 
to Mexico to procure a contract to introduce 800 families. The 
territory sought for the settlement of the colony was embrac- 
ed in the following notes and bounds : 

"Beginning on the west bank of the Navasota Creek at the 
upper crossing of the old San Antonio road; thence westward- 
ly with said road to the dividing ridge between the Brazos and 
Colorado Rivers; thence with the ridge of hills northward to 
strike the old Comanche trace, leading to Nacogdoches; thence 
with this trace leading to Navasota Creek. Thence down said 
creek with its meanders to the beginning." 

It embraced parts of what is now Brazos and Burleson Coun- 
ties; all of Williamson, Milam, Falls, McLennan, Bell, Coryell, 
Limestone, Navarro, a part of Hill and small parts of other 
contiguous counties. 

The date of the concession to Leftwich was April 15, 1825, 
and was the first contract made to colonize portions of Texas 
by the State of Coahuila and Texas. For reasons which need 
not be explained, the contract was made with Leftwich indi- 
vidually but it was in fact the Nashville Company's contract, 
and so recognized by Coahuila and Texas, as will be seen in 
the description of Austin's third or Little Colony, when it is 
called the "colony of the Nashville Company" in 1827. 

Leftwich after securing the concession returned to Nash- 
ville where his health began to decline and he finally died. 
Robertson then took charge of the company's affairs, reor- 
ganized the work, establishing his headquarters for offices of 
the company at a place on the Brazos River near where the 
town of Marlin now stands. At the same time he settled fur- 
ther down the Brazos and established a village which he call- 
ed "Nashville" on a high bluff on the right bank of the river 
just above the present crossing of the river by the Interna- 
tional and Great Northern Railway Company. This was to be 
the objective point of the settlers who were to be distributed 
from there to such locations as they chose to settle. It was 



As Told in County Names 49 

made secure against the Indians and grew to be quite a village. 
About ten miles below this point and where the old San An- 
tonio crossed the Brazos was another point called "Tenoch- 
titlan." A few miles above the village of Nashville a river 
flowed into the Brazos which had been called by the Span- 
iards San Andress, but as the Spaniards had abandoned the old 
missions on the San Gabriel and left that region about seven- 
ty-five years previously the new settlers found it virtually with- 
out a name and called it "Little River." The protracted ill- 
ness of Leftwich and the delays occasioned by the readjust- 
ment of the business of the Nashville Company, Robertson hav- 
ing in the meantime to assume full charge, delayed the in- 
troduction of immigrants so that not until 1829 did any set- 
tlers come into the colony. The original contract of the com- 
pany required the fulfillment of the contract within six years 
from its date ; in other words, the contract would expire April 
14, 1831. In contemplation of this he secured a renewal of 
the contract and went actively to work in securing settlers in 
the colony. 

In the meantime a new and most serious complication arose 
in the decree by the Mexican government forbidding the in- 
troduction of any more American settlers into Texas. At the 
time of the decree Robertson was in the east organizing and 
equipping at his own expense companies of settlers for his 
colony and in 1830 and after the date of the decree, a long line 
of immigrants in charge of Alexander Thomson reached the 
boundary of Texas and there learned for the first time that 
they were forbidden by the decree to settle in Texas. It was 
wholly impracticable to return to Tennessee or Kentucky. 
They had disposed of their homes and all their belongings and 
they concluded to enter Texas and risk the consequences, many 
of them finding an asylum in Austin's colony. 

As Robertson had a valid contract still in existence permit- 
ting him to introduce settlers, he took the American view that 
the government could not destroy his vested rights. Conse- 
quently he continued the work of his enterprise. 

In the meantime the decree of April 6, 1830, was repealed 
but now arose a new difficulty. 

4 



50 The History and Geography of Texas 

The Congress of Coahuila and Texas having been informed 
of the disobedience to the decree forbidding the introduction 
of any more settlers from the United States, the contract of 
the Nashville Company was cancelled and the region embrac- 
ed in his contract was given over to Austin and Williams Feb- 
ruary 25, 1831. It took over three years for Robertson to 
have this order annulled and the Nashville Company contract 
restored which was done April 29, 1834. Desiring that set- 
tlers already in his colony should not be left to themselves and 
to carry out his contract at all hazards, he continued to in- 
troduce settlers but on the 18th of May, 1835, it was restored 
to Austin and Williams and matters were in this situation 
when the Texas Revolution broke out in October, 1835. 

The first clash of arms of the Texas Revolution on the 2nd 
of October, 1835, was at Gonzales, Texas. Robertson at this 
date was busily engaged in the east, organizing and equip- 
ping settlers for his colony in Texas. As soon as the news of 
a clash of arms reached him he hastened back to Texas and 
found that an election was soon to take place for delegates to 
the Convention to meet on the Brazos, and he and his nephew, 
Geo. C. Childress, were elected delegates to represent the 
Municipality of Viesca, later known as Milam. He took his 
seat in that convention participating in all the deliberations, 
until a day or two before adjournment, when, hearing the news 
of the fall of the Alamo, he hastened to his colony, had all the 
important land papers and other evidence of title belonging to 
his colonists securely packed in a box, placed in a cart drawn 
by a yoke of oxen, and entrusted the same to his son, then only 
fourteen years old, with orders to take them beyond the limits 
of Texas. 

He then organized a company and proceeded with all des- 
patch to join the army of Gen. Houston, then on its way to 
San Jacinto. Whether he overtook Houston in time to par- 
ticipate in that battle is not certainly known. His name does 
not appear in the official list prepared by Gen. Houston's di- 
rection. On the other hand a donation certificate of six-hun- 
dred and forty acres of land was issued to him for partici- 
pation in that battle before the issuance of which, strict proof 



As Told in County Names 51 

was required by law. When matters had settled down after 
the battle many left the army by permission to look for their 
fleeing families who had left their homes upon the approach 
of Santa Anna's army and Robertson left to find his son, who 
had been sent with the archives of his colony to a place of 
safety, and after finding him with the archives he returned. At 
the election in that year he was chosen Senator in the first 
Congress of the Republic from the Milam District and served 
in that body until the expiration of his term in 1839 and re- 
tired to devote his exclusive attention to his land matters 
which as we have already seen were in a most complicated 
condition at the beginning of the Revolution in 1835. 

In June, 1837, an act was passed by the Congress of the 
Republic of Texas authorizing him to institute proceedings in 
the courts to determine his rights as to the lands as an em- 
presario. 

The case is reported in the second volume of the reports of 
the Supreme Court of Texas. The case was ably briefed and 
argued on both sides and Chief Justice Hemphill rendered the 
decision of the court. Among other things the Court says: 
"The law of 1834 heretofore referred to, as restoring to him 
his rights" (after the Nashville Company contract had been 
cancelled by a decree of the Congress of Coahuila and Texas) 
"treats the contract as his (Robertson's) own, and recognizes 
no other agent for carrying out the project of colonization. 
He commenced action, shortly after the passage of the law as 
empresario and continued to act as such ; the witnesses recog- 
nized him as empresario and his conduct in that capacity is 
contrasted with that of other like affairs. His activity, en- 
ergy and expenditures in encouraging emigration are authen- 
icated and he appears to have been unaided by the assistance, 
pecuniary or otherwise, of others in the establishment of the 
colony. 

"After this contract had subsisted for five years with but 
little progress toward its completion, it was suspended by the 
Act of 1830 prohibiting the introduction of immigrants from 
coterminous countries. In February, 1831, one or two months 
before the expiration of the contract by its own limitation and 



52 The History and Geography of Texas 

years before the suspensory provision of the decree of the 6th 
of April, 1830, was repealed, the same territory was ceded to 
Austin and Williams for the purpose of colonization." 

The case was tried before a jury and the court referring to 
the verdict says: "They find evidence of one hundred fam- 
ilies introduced previous to the renewal of his contract; two 
hundred and twenty-nine families agreeably to the titles is- 
sued ; one hundred prior to March, 1836, and one hundred and 
twenty-one previous to that time but not recorded in conse- 
quence of the closing of the land office, making in all six hun- 
dred families," It appears therefore that Robertson intro- 
duced more settlers into Texas than any other empresario ex- 
cept Austin. This decision was not rendered until 1847. Hav- 
ing in the meantime retired to his plantation on the Brazos 
in Robertson County a few miles above the present crossing 
of the International Railway, he died in March, 1842. 



SAN PATRICIO. 

While this is the name of the patron saint of Ireland (St. 
Patrick) it properly belongs to the Colonial era of Texas his- 
tory. It is the name given to the town established by McMul- 
len and McGloin, the empresarios of the Irish colony before 
mentioned. The town of San Patricio was granted, besides lots, 
four leagues of land, and the County subsequently, four leagues 
additional. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE AMERICANIZATION OF THE MAP OF TEXAS. 

The immigrants to Texas from the United States began to 
honor their statesmen and heroes as soon as any sort of or- 
ganized government began. Their early attachment to their 
native country was shown in naming the following counties : 



Clay 


Knox 


Newton 


Fayette 


Liberty 


Shelby 


Jackson 


Madison 


Washington 


Jasper 


Marion 




Jefferson 


Montgomery 





-^^. 



CLAY. 

Henry Clay was born in Hanover County, Virginia, April 
12, 1777. His father, who was a Baptist minister, died in 
1781. His mother was a woman of vigorous intellect and great 
energy. She reared her fam- 
ily in comparative comfort but 
Henry Clay's early years were 
years of much labor and little 
education. 

It was then that he was of- 
ten seen going to mill on the 
Pamunky River, mounted on a 
scrub pony with a meal bag for 
a saddle, and a rope for a bridle, 
and from this circumstance he 
became known as "The mill boy 
of slashes." Up to the age of 

14 he had received only three years of schooling. He was 
placed in the store of Richard Denny of Richmond, and a year 
later he obtained the position of Deputy Clerk in the High 
Court of Chancery. In 1792, his family removed to Wood- 
ford County, Kentucky. 




54 The History and Geography of Texas 

While employed as clerk in Richmond, Va., he attracted the 
attention of Chancellor Wythe, who was attracted to him and 
he made him his private secretary and encouraged him to study 
law, which he afterward did in the office of Robert Brock, At- 
torney General of Virginia. Having obtained his license to 
practice, he moved to Lexington, Ky., in November 1797. He 
made his first public speech in Lexington in the summer of 
1798, on the alien and sedition laws, and thus won his first 
laurels as an orator. 1803 he was elected to the lower house 
of the Legislature and served until 1806, when he was chos- 
en United States Senator, to succeed General Adair. After 
serving out that term, he resumed the practice of law. In 
1807 he was again elected to the Legislature of Kentucky and 
was made Speaker of the House, serving in that capacity un- 
til 1809, when he was returned to the Senate of the United 
States to fill out the unexpired term of Senator Thurston. 

In 1811 he was elected to the lower house of the United 
States Congress and chosen Speaker. He was returned and 
served for thirteen consecutive years, except for two short pe- 
riods, one in 1814 and another in 1815, when he was one of 
the Commissioners in negotiating the treaty of Ghent, and in 
1820-22, when he returned home and resumed the practice of 
law. In 1825 he became Secretary of State in the Cabinet of 
the younger Adams, which position he held until 1829. After 
his term as Secretary of State expired he resumed the prac- 
tice of law, and in 1831 was elected to the United States Sen- 
ate, and resigned his seat with the purpose of not re-entering 
politics, but in 1848 he was again elected to the United States 
Senate, and was a member of that body until his death, in 
Washington, D. C, June 29th, 1852. 

He was the master spirit of the War of 1812, and a cham- 
pion of the cause of Greece. He was the author of the "Amer- 
ican System" in behalf of the internal improvements. He was 
foremost in securing the Missouri Compromise, and the author 
of the compromise measures of 1850, which, among other 
things, adjusted the boundaries between Texas and the United 
States. He may be said to have been the founder of the Whig 
party in 1832. He was nominated for the Presidency in 1844, 



As Told in County Names 



iVO 



but on the paramount political issue, "the annexation of Texas," 
he was defeated. He became a member of the Episcopal Church 
on June 25, 1847, and upon his dying bed whispered to the at- 
tending clergyman : "I have an abiding trust in the merits 
and mediation of the Savior." 



FAYETTE. 



This county was named for the Marquis de la Fayette, who 
was born at the chateau of Chavagniac, in. Auvergne, France, 
September 4, 1797. He was nineteen years old and a captain 
of dragoons in the French army 
when the thirteen colonies de- 
clared independence. 

He warmly espoused the cause 
of independence in America, and 
over the protests of friends he 
made arrangements to join the 
struggling colonists in Decem- 
ber, 1775. Denied any public 
aid in France, he purchased a 
ship on his own account and in- 
vited his friends to go with him. 

At the instance of the British 
ambassador, orders were issued 
to seize the ship, and La Fayette 
was arrested. The ship was 
sent to Spain, but he escaped 

from his guards, and was soon on the high seas on his way 
to America. 

After a two months' voyage he landed at Georgetown, S. C, 
with eleven companions, and immediately went to Philadelphia 
and asked for a commission as major general, which had been 
promised him by the American minister in France. He soon 
felt the embarrassment of a promotion over native officers 
and then tendered his services on two conditions, viz : That he 
should receive no pay and should act as a volunteer. These 




56 The History and Geography of Texas 

were accepted, and on July 21, 1777, he was appointed major 
general by resolution of Congress, and on the next day joined 
General Washington. He took part in the battle of Brandywine 
and was wounded in the leg, and also fought at Monmouth. 
He then returned to France, and remained six months, when he 
came back to America and rendered active service until the 
close of the war, when he returned to France. He visited Amer- 
ica in 1784 and 1824. He again appeared in public life in 1787, 
becoming conspicuous in the French Revolution. 

After 1797 he retired to the castle La Grange and lived a re- 
tired life. In 1824 he revisited the United States and traveled 
through all the states from Boston to Georgia, and was every- 
where received with the greatest demonstration of welcome, and 
in that year was voted $200,000 and a township of land. In 1830 
he took command of the National Guard and served in the second 
revolution in France. He died at Paris May 20, 1834. His 
name is spread over all sections of the map of the United States 
and most appropriately on the map of Texas, as she was aided 
in her early struggles by so many, who, like La Fayette, came 
from distant states to aid in her struggle for liberty. 



As Told in County Names 



57 



JACKSON. 



The municipality of Jackson was created by the Consulta- 
tion in 1835, when Andrew Jackson was President of the United 
States, and in 1837 was made a county. Andrew Jackson was 
born in the Waxhaw set- 
tlement in what is now 
Union County, North Car- 
olina. The Waxhaw settle- 
ment was so near the boun- 
dary line of South Carolina 
that for a long time the 
state of his birth was in 
doubt. 

At the age of nineteen he 
moved to Salisbury, in 
North Carolina, and stud- 
ied law, and about the year 
1790 he was appointed Dis- 
trict Attorney for that por- 
tion of North Carolina now 
known as Middle Tennessee 
and located in Nashville. He was elected as a delegate to the 
convention which framed the first Constitution of the State of 
Tennessee, in 1796, and was elected as the first representative 
of the state in the Congress of the United States. In 1797 he 
was elected to the United States Senate, but resigned in 1798 
to become Judge of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, which 
position he held until 1804. At the beginning of the War of 
1812 he joined the army and was made a major general of vol- 
unteers and fought the Indians and British. On the 8th of 
January, 1815, he won his greatest military laurels in the Bat- 
tle of New Orleans. He resigned the position in 1818 and in 
1821 he was appointed territorial Governor of Florida. In 

1823 he was again elected to the United States Senate, and in 

1824 was the leading candidate for the Presidency, but not hav- 
ing a majority of all the votes, although a large plurality, the 




58 The History and Geography of Texas 

election was thrown into the House, and he was defeated. This 
was greatly to his advantage, and in the next election he over- 
whelmingly defeated his opponent, John Quincy Adams. He 
was re-elected in 1832, and after a stormy career in that office 
he retired to the "Hermitage," near Nashville, in 1837, and 
died there June 8, 1845. 

JASPER AND NEWTON. 

These counties were named for twin heroes of the Revolu- 
tionary War, and as they are placed side by side on the map of 
Texas, they are placed together in this sketch. 

William Jasper was born in South Carolina in 1750, and 
enlisted in the Seventh Cavalry, under the command of Captain 
Dunbar, of Colonel Isaac Mott's regiment, of which Francis 
Marion was Lieutenant Colonel. The date of his enlistment 
was July 8, 1775, and the period for which he enlisted was three 
years. At the expiration of his term he re-enlisted in the 
same command. His record as a private soldier was a succes- 
sion of gallant deeds, and in the month of October, 1776, he was 
appointed a Sergeant while at Fort Johnson, in North Caro- 
lina. From the Charleston Year Book (1889) which gives the 
diary of Captain Elliot we learn of the estimate placed upon 
him by the following extract : 

"The President, John Rutledge, this day returning his thanks 
to the Sullivan's Island garrison for their gallant conduct and 
behavior in defense of the fortress," and taking his own sword 
from his side, presenting it to Sergeant Jasper, he said, "No 
doubt he will soon compliment him with a commission." 

The story of his rushing through the embrasure and seizing 
the flag, which had been shot down and fell on the outside, and 
taking it, in the midst of a hot fire, from the enemy and plant- 
ing it safely upon the ramparts, is too well known to be re- 
peated here. He was killed while attempting to plant the 
American colors on the parapets of Spring Hill redoubt at the 
storming of Savannah, October 9, 1779. The City of Savannah 
has erected a handsome monument to his memory. 



As Told in County Names 59 

Newton County was named for Sergeant John Newton, who 
was the son of a pastor of the Baptist church at Charleston, 
S. C. He was born in that city in 1752. He enhsted in the 
same command with Sergeant Jasper and was his "Alter Ego" 
in all his exploits. He was a corporal and piper in the same 
company, but survived the siege of Savannah, to be taken pris- 
oner later at the capitulation of Charleston in 1780, and was 
one of those who succumbed to smallpox shortly afterward. 

JEFFERSON. 

In 1835 a municipality named in honor of the third Presi- 
dent was created in the southeastern portion of the present 
State of Texas. Under the Constitution and laws of the Re- 
public it became a county in , ^o.:, 
1837, with Beaumont as its 
county seat. 

Thomas Jefferson was born at 
Shadwell, in Albermarle Coun- 
ty, Virginia, April 13, 1743. Af- 
ter a short course in the schools 
of that vicinity he entered Wil- 
liam and Mary College, in 1762, 
and graduated in 1766. He stud- 
ied law, and in 1769 was elected 
a member of the Virginia Leg- 
islature. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, which 
assembled at Philadelphia in 1775. He was made chairman of the 
committee which drafted the Declaration of Independence and 
was the author of that document. He served in the State Leg- 
islature until 1779, when he was elected Governor to succeed 
Patrick Henry. He held that office two years. 

In 1783 he was again elected to Congress and was made 
chairman of the committee having in charge the treaty of 
peace with Great Britain. In 1784 he was appointed minister 
plenipotentiary to assist Adams and Franklin in negotiating 
treaties of commerce with the different countries on the conti- 




60 The History and Geography of Texas 

nent of Europe, and in 1785 was appointed minister plenipo- 
tentiary to France, and served in that position until appointed 
by President Washington Secretary of State in his Cabinet in 
1789, On December 31, 1793, he resigned the secretaryship. 
In 1796 he was elected Vice President when John Adams was 
elected President, and acted in that capacity during Mr. Adams' 
term. 

On February 17, 1801, he was elected President by the Con- 
gress of the United States, the electors having failed to make 
a choice. He was inaugurated as President on March 4, 1801. 
In the inauguration ceremonies "he did not ride up Pennsyl- 
vania Avenue alone and hitch his horse to the Capitol fence, 
go into the Capitol and take the oath; but was escorted up 
Pennsylvania Avenue by a large force of militia and a large 
concourse of citizens and entered the Capitol amid shouts and 
cheers of the assembled multitude, the beating of drums and 
waving of flags. He proceeded to the Senate chamber, took 
the oath and delivered his address." 

In December, 1801, when he sent his first regular message 
to Congress, he, for reasons which he explained, did not go in 
person, and this has been followed by his successors down to 
President Wilson. 

He served two terms as President, making many reforms in 
the administration of the governm.ent, greatly reducing the 
expenses, paying off" a large part of the debt incurred by the 
Revolutionary War, and dispensing with ceremonials incident 
to the social functions of the White House. At the expiration 
of his term, in 1809, he retired to his estate at Monticello, in 
sight of the spot where he was born. With the exception of 
a narrow escape from capture by the British during the War 
of 1812 he lived a comparativelj^ quiet life up to his death, 
July 4, 1826. During that interim he devoted himself to sci- 
entific research and to literary labors, outlining a public school 
system for Virginia and busying himself with other matters 
pertaining to the public welfare, among which, the crowning 
act of his career, was the founding of the University of Vir- 
ginia in 1825, in plain sight of Monticello. 

He practically demonstrated that the people were capable 



As Told in County Names 61 

of self-government, brought the masses in close contact with 
the government and instilled in the minds of the people prin- 
ciples of government which have ever since been universally 
recognized by the various political parties. 

One of his first and most important achievements was the 
Louisiana Purchase, which, owing to his ideas of strict con- 
struction, he deemed unconstitutional. But his friend, Wilson 
Gary Nicholas, insisted that the treaty-making clause of the 
Constitution permitted the act, and the constitutional amend- 
ment which Jefferson suggested to meet the case was never sub- 
mitted to the people. 

He was, perhaps, the greatest publicist and political phil- 
osopher of his day. His "Notes on Virginia," "Rights of Brit- 
ish-America," and his "Manual of Parliamentary Law" are 
among his principal published works. He was buried on his 
estate at Monticello. In 1892 the Congress of the United States 
had a ten-volume edition of his works published. 

NOTE. — The claim is made, and two of our standard his- 
tories seem to endorse it, that the county and county site were 
named for Jefferson Beaumont, but the claim does not seem to 
be sustained by the facts. 

The name was first given to the municipality when it was 
created in 1835. Jefferson Beaumont did not come to Texas 
until thirteen years later, and when he came did not locate in 
or near Jefferson County, but settled in Calhoun County, where 
he lived until 1865, and while temporarily in Jackson County 
died there in that year. 

Henry Millard, who represented that municipality as a del- 
egate to the Consultation in 1835, was one of the original or- 
ganizers of the municipality, and Beaumont was named in 
compliment to his wife, whose maiden name was Beaumont, 
probably a relative of Jefferson Beaumont, and it is possible 
the claim that it was named for Jefferson Beaumont came in 
this way. 



62 



The History and Geography of Texas 




KNOX. 

This county was named for 
General Henry Knox, who was 
born in Boston, Mass., in 1759, 
made a Brigadier General of the 
Continental Army in 1776, and 
in 1781 a Major General, and 
became Secretary of War in 
Washington's first Cabinet. He 
died on October 25, 1808, at 
Thomaston, Me. 



LIBERTY. 

This word has become a geographical name eighty-eight 
times in the various States of the Union. Following a custom 
that began with the Revolutionary War, the inhabitants of this 
region named their first town Liberty, and from this the 
county took its name. 



MADISON. 

James Madison was born in 
Orange County, Virginia, 
March 16, 1751. He was pre- 
pared for college by private tu- 
tors, and in 1768 entered the 
Sophomore class at Princeton 
College and graduated in 1771. 
He then studied law and in 
1773 began the practice of his 
profession in his native county. 
He was elected a member of the 
Virginia Legislature in 1774. 
In 1778 he was chosen a member of the Executive Council, 
and in 1779 was elected a delegate to the Continental Con- 
gress and served in that body continuously until 1784, when 
he was sent as a delegate to the convention at Annapolis, 




As Told in County Names 63 

Md., which was assembled for the purpose of devising a plan 
to regulate commerce between the states. 

In 1787 he was elected a delegate to the Constitutional Con- 
vention which met in Philadelphia. He was a member of Con- 
gress from 1789 to 1797. In 1793 he was tendered the position 
of Secretary of State, made vacant by Jefferson's resignation, 
but declined to accept it owing to his important duties as a 
member of Congress. In 1798 he again became a member of 
the Virginia Legislature. In 1801 he was appointed Secretary 
of State by President Jefferson, and at the close of Jefferson's 
administration was elected President of the United States, and 
served two terms, retiring in March, 1817. 

After his retirement from the arena of national politics he 
was chosen a member of the State Convention of Virginia, 
called to revise the State Constitution. He took an active inter- 
est in the local affairs of his county, being at one time presi- 
dent of an agricultural society. He died at his home in Orange 
County, Virginia, June 28th, 1836. 

He was a man of varied learning. He was not only familiar 
with the science of his profession, but had a critical knowl- 
edge of the classics, of the French and Italian languages, and 
had studied Hebrew. He had studied closely the writings of 
the French philosophers. He was lawyer, naturalist, scientific 
farmer, ethnologist, and brought all of his varied knowledge 
to his aid in his greatest accomplishment, political science. 

It was at his instance that the convention was called to meet 
at Annapolis, which led to the convention at Philadelphia which 
framed the Constitution of the United States. He was the 
admitted leader of that body and drew up the plan of govern- 
ment upon which its work was based. By his published es- 
says, which make up the greater part of the "Federalist," he 
became the chief agent in accomplishing its adoption, and from 
1789 to 1797, as a member of Congress, led in those measures 
that put it in successful operation. 

The "Federalist" and the "Madison Papers" are quoted and 
relied upon by the Supreme Court of the United States in all 
questions involving constitutional construction. The verdict of 
posterity justly accords to him the title "Father of the Consti- 
tution." 



64 



The History and Geography of Texas 



MARION. 



Gen. Francis Marion was born near Georgetown, S. C., in 
1732. He became distinguished in the War of the Revolution 
while in command of the forces in South Carolina, eluding the 

superior forces of the British 
and making constant war upon 
the Tories. His command was 
familiar with the swamps of 
that region and they were made 
the hiding and camping places 
of himself and men, and for this 
reason he obtained the title 
"Swamp Fox." He was conspic- 
uous for bravery at the siege of 
Savannah, at Fort Moultrie and 
other hotly contested engage- 
ments. 

He served in the State Senate 
of South Carolina, and was a leader in all measures contem- 
plating leniency to the Tories. He received from that body 
a solid gold medal as a token of appreciation for his services 
in the Revolution. He died on his plantation near Georgetown, 
S. C, February 27, 1795. 




MONTGOMERY. 



This county was named for Richard Montgomery, who was 
born in Ireland, December 2, 1736, and settled at King's 
Bridge, New York, in 1773. In 1775 he was elected a delegate 
to represent Dutchess County, New York in the First New 
York Provisional Assembly. In the same year he was ap- 
pointed Brigadier General, and was killed at Quebec December 
31, 1775. 



As Told in County Names 



65 



SHELBY. 

This county was named for Isaac Shelby, who was born De- 
cember 11, 1750, at Hagerstown, Md. He was a surveyor in 
Western Virginia (now Kentucky) in 1774; was in his father's 
company at the battle of Point Pleas- 
ant, Virginia; was made Captain in 
1776, and commissary in 1777. 

In 1779 he became a member of the 
Virginia Assembly; he was commis- 
sioned a Major by Governor Jeffer- 
son ; he was made a Colonel and de- 
feated Ferguson at the battle of 
King's Mountain in October, 1780; 
was a member of the North Carolina 
Legislature in 1781 and 1782 (Ten- 
nessee then being a part of North 

Carolina). In 1788 he settled at "Traveler's Rest," in Ken- 
tucky. 

From 1792 to 1796 he was Governor of Kentucky, and in 
1813 he joined General Harrison in his campaign against the 
Indians. In 1818 he was a Commissioner with General Jack- 
son to treat with the Cherokees. Shelby County, in Kentucky 
and a college in Shelbyville were named in his honor. He died 
in Lincoln County, Kentucky, on July 18, 1826. 




WASHINGTON. 



George Washington was born at Bridges Creek, on the Poto- 
mac River, February 22, 1732. At the age of nineteen he was 
appointed Adjutant General of one of the districts of Virginia, 
with the rank of Major. At the age of twenty-one he was sent 
by Governor Dinwiddle to visit the French in the Ohio 
Valley on an important mission. Also at the age of twenty-one 
he was promoted to the rank of Colonel. 



66 



The History and Geography of Texas 



When twenty-seven he was married to Mrs. Martha Ciistis, 
a wealthy widow, who was the mother of two children by a 
former marriag-e. Five years later he was elected a member 

of the House of Burgesses 
of Virginia, and served in 
that position until the con- 
vention at Williamsburg in 
1773. In 1774 he was sent 
as a delegate to the Conti- 
nental Congress at Phila- 
delphia, and in 1775 was 
chosen Commander-in- 
Chief of the Continental 
Army. He commanded the 
armies throughout the war 
for independence. 

On December 23, 1783, 
he resigned and retired to 
Mount Vernon, his home. 
In 1787 he was sent as a 
delegate to the national convention which framed the Constitu- 
tion, and was chosen president of that body. He was unani- 
mously elected President of the United States, and inaugurated 
April 30, 1789. He was unanimously re-elected in 1793 and 
retired March 4, 1797. In July, 1798, he was appointed Lieu- 
tenant General, but had no occasion to serve as such. He was 
a Free Mason of high rank. 

On December 11, 1799, he contracted a severe illness from 
exposure. His physician resorted to bleeding to relieve him, 
and on December 14 he died at his home at Mount Vernon, Va. 
His name is on every State map in the Union. 




CHAPTER IV. 

THE PIONEERS OF TEXAS. 



The following list of county names by no means represents 
this large class of early Texans, as will be shown from the 
various sketches preceding and following. The list will show 
the character of their struggle with the Indians from 1823 to 
1881, when the savages finally left the State. 

There is no more comprehensive characterization than the 
following in Theodore Roosevelt's "Winning of the West:" 

"The warlike borderers who thronged across the Alleghanies, 
the restless and reckless hunters, the hard, dogged, frontier 
farmers, by dint of grim tenacity, overcame and displaced In- 
dians, French, and Spaniards alike, exactly as fourteen hun- 
dred years before Saxon and Angle overcame and displaced 
the Cyrmic and Gaelic Celts. 

"They warred and settled from the high hill-valleys of the 
French Broad and the Upper Cumberland to the half tropical 
basin of the Rio Grande, and to where the Golden Gate lets 
through the long-heaving waters of the Pacific. 

"The fathers followed Boone, or fought at King's Mountain; 
the sons marched south with Jackson to overcome the Creeks 
and beat back the British ; the grandsons died at the Alamo, 
or charged to victory at San Jacinto." 

It will be seen, however, that states in different sections of 
the Union furnished their quota of the men who assisted in 
conquering the wilderness. - 

Counties named in honor of these men are : 



Armstrong 


Gaines 


Kinney 


Smith 


Borden 


Hall 


Loving 


Starr 


Brown 


Harris 


Maverick 


Sterling 


Caldwell 


Harrison 


Menard 


Tarrant 


Coleman 


Hill 


Montague 


Taylor 


Collin 


Hopkins 


McLennan 


Throckmorton 


Coryell 


Johnson 


Parker 


Titus 


Denton 


Kerr 


Parmer 


Wilbarger 



68 



The History and Geography of Texas 



ARMSTRONG. 

This county was named for "The Armstrong family." There 
is nothing in the act creating the county, or in the journals of 
the Legislature to indicate what particular Armstrong family 
was meant. There are six different families by the name, some 
of which held important public positions. James and Cavitt 
Armstrong were members of the convention that framed the 
Constitution of 1845, and James R. Armstrong, a member of 
the Secession Convention, in 1861, and James Armstrong was 
again a member of the convention that framed the Constitu- 
tion of 1867. Frank C. Armstrong arose to the rank of Brig- 
adier General in the Confederate Army. It would be obviously 
impracticable to give a sketch of all these. 

BORDEN. 




This county was named in honor of Gail Borden, Jr. He was 
the son of Gail Borden, Sr., and Philadelphia (Wheeler) Bor- 
den, and was born at Norwich, New York, November 6, 1801, 
and received nearly all his educa- 
tional training in the schools of that 
place. 

In 1814 the family moved to Ken- 
tucky to a place opposite Cincinnati, 
and Gail, Jr., with his younger broth- 
er, cultivated a farm on the site 
which is now occupied by the city of 
Covington. 

From there the family moved to 
Indiana in 1816, locating on the 
banks of the Ohio River, ten miles 
below the town of Madison, where young Gail remained until 
he was twenty-one years old. His health having become seri- 
ously impaired, he concluded to go south, and to that end loaded 
a flat boat and went with it to New Orleans. After disposing 
of his cargo he went over into the piney woods of Mississippi 



As Told in County Names 69 

and there engaged in teaching school and surveying land, and 
was married there. 

In 1829 he went to Texas, whither the family of his father 
had previously removed, and engaged in farming and stock 
raising, and in 1833 was sent as a delegate to the convention 
of that year. He was then employed by Stephen F. Austin to 
supervise the official surveys in his colonies and had charge of 
the Land Office of the colony under the direction of Samuel M. 
Williams, the Colonial Secretary of Austin. 

In October, 1835, in connection with his younger brother, 
Thomas H. Borden, and Joseph Baker, he established a news- 
paper at San Felipe called the "Telegrajjh and Texas Register," 
and continued its publication there until March 24, 1836, when, 
on account of the approach of Santa Anna's army, he moved 
it to Harrisburg, on Buffalo Bayou. The Mexican army under 
Santa Anna reached Harrisburg on the 14th of April, just as 
the paper was ready to go to press. It was seized by order of 
Santa Anna, the type pied, and presses and all thrown into 
the bayou. 

After the battle of San Jacinto he purchased a new press 
and new type and re-established the paper at Columbia, where 
the First Congress of the Republic assembled, and it was pub- 
lished there until April, 1837, when it was removed to Hous- 
ton, the temporary capital of the Republic. 

President Houston appointed him to the position of Collect- 
or of Customs at Galveston in 1837. He gave up this position 
in 1839 and accepted the agency of the Galveston City Com- 
pany, which he held for about twelve years. The leisure af- 
forded him while in this position gave him opportunities for 
bringing into play his genius for invention. His first achieve- 
ment along this line was the invention of the meat biscuit, 
which was exhibited at the World's Fair in London in 1852, 
and won for him the Great Council Medal and an honorary 
membership in London Society of Arts. The pemmican made 
by him was used by Dr. Kane on his Arctic expedition. 

Depending largely with this convenient form of army ration, 
upon the patronage of the government for the army and navy, 
he invested all his means in its manufacture, but army con- 



70 The History and Geography of Texas 

tractors thwarted his plans, and he became bankrupt. Emerg- 
ing from this, penniless, he began life anew when over fifty 
years old, and turned his attention to condensing milk, and in 
1853 applied for a patent on his invention. After meeting with 
many difficulties he finally obtained a patent, in 1856, after 
having sacrificed about two-thirds of his interest in it. Pro- 
gress was slow at first, but when the Civil War began in 1861 
the demand for the product greatly exceeded the supply. From 
that time on business grew by leaps and bounds, until now 
(1913) there are over one hundred and thirty plants scattered 
over eleven states, supplied by twelve thousand farmers, with 
milk from over two hundred and fifty thousand cows, and turn- 
ing out more than three hundred million cans of condensed 
milk annually. With condensed milk other dairy products are 
manufactured, the plant at Elgin, Illinois, being one of the 
largest manufactories of butter in the world. 

In the meantime Borden had turned his attention to 
condensing the juices of meat. At first this extract was 
made at Elgin, Illinois, but competitors who purchased cheap 
beef from South America caused him to establish a plant in 
Colorado County, Texas, where good and cheap beef could be ob- 
tained, and while engaged in the business there died January 
11, 1874. His body was taken to New York and buried in 
Woodlawn Cemetery. He had also succeeded in condensing tea, 
coff'ee, and cocoa and fruit juices, reducing the last to one- 
seventh of its original bulk. 

It is interesting to compare his method for convenient army 
rations to the methods used by the Japanese in their war with 
Russia. In the prosecution of his enterprise he amassed a 
great fortune and dispensed it with a beneficent hand in vari- 
ous ways. He was a man of earnest Christian character, lib- 
eral in all his dealings and loyally attached to Texas. His 
younger brother, James P. Borden, was a participant in the 
battle of San Jacinto, serving as First Lieutenant in Baker's 
company of Burleson's regiment, and was later appointed first 
Commissioner of the General Land Office of Texas. 



As Told in County Names 71 



BROWN. 

Henry S. Brown, the father of John Henry Brown, the Texas 
historian, was born in Mason County, Kentucky, March 8, 1783. 
His father's family removed to St. Charles County, Mo., about 
1810. The Indians were very troublesome in that region and 
he volunteered in a military company just then organized to 
drive them from the country and had his first war experience at 
the battle of Fort Clark (Peoria). He was married in 1814, 
and began trading between St. Louis and New Orleans. In 
1819 he moved to Pike County, Mo. He was a friend of Moses 
Austin, and visited Texas about 1823, and in 1824 returned 
with a stock of goods for the Indian and Mexican trade. In 
1825 he organized a company of men to go in search of his 
brother, who had been captured by Indians, and after a fruit- 
less search, going over three hundred miles into the interior, 
he returned to the Brazos. In July, 1826, his brother returned 
from captivity. He engaged in merchandising, trading with the 
settlers at San Antonio and on the Brazos. From time to time he 
commanded organized bodies in pursuit of Indians. In one of 
these expeditions he pursued the savages as far as the county 
which bears his name. When trouble arose in 1832 with Mexican 
authorities he organized a company and was in command at 
the battle of Velasco. He was an active member of the con- 
vention of 1832. He died of cholera during an epidemic of 
that disease at Columbia, Texas, July 26, 1834. 

CALDWELL. 

Mathew Caldwell ("Old Paint") was born in Kentucky, in 
1798. His father's family removed to Missouri in 1818. From 
Missouri he came to Texas in 1833 and settled in what is now 
Sabine County. He represented that municipality in the con- 
vention of 1836, and was one of the signers of the Declaration 
of Independence. He later removed to Gonzales and partici- 
pated in a number of engagements with Indians, being in com- 
mand of a company of Rangers in 1838 and 1839. In 1840 he 



72 The History and Geography of Texas 

was one of the commanders in the battle against the Com- 
anches at Plum Creek, near the present town of Lockhart. In 
1841 he commanded a company in the Santa Fe Expedition, 
was captured and carried to prison in Mexico and released in 
July, 1842, In September, 1842, he was chosen commander of 
a force of two hundred men to meet the invading force of the 
Mexican General Woll. The historian, Brown, says, "At sun- 
set on the 17th (September) they marched for the balance of 
the night over the country without any road, and about mid- 
night took position on the east bank of a creek a little below 
where New Braunfels is now situated, and camped there until 
the 18th, just one week after Woll had taken San Antonio. 
Woll's force consisted of 400 cavalry, 1050 infantry, and two 
pieces of artillery. Caldwell dispatched Hays and his scouts to 
challenge the Mexicans to attack them, thinking that 202 Texans 
could whip 1450 Mexicans in this position. In a few moments 
they were charged by 400 Mexicans. About one o'clock Woll 
arrived with 800 men and two pieces of artillery. After a des- 
perate struggle of twenty minutes the Mexicans fell back and 
at sunset retired to San Antonio, and the next day began their 
retreat to the Rio Grande." After the pursuit of Woll, Cald- 
well returned to Gonzales and died there December 28, 1842. 

COLEMAN. 

Robert M. Coleman, in whose memory this county was named, 
was born in Kentucky in 1799 and came to Texas in 1832. 

His experience in Indian warfare in Kentucky prompted his 
appointment as captain of the first ranging company of Texas 
doing service on the extreme frontier of Bastrop County and the 
region north of what is now Williamson, Burnet, and other re- 
gions exposed to the Indians, as far east as the headwaters of 
the Navasota River. When trouble began with Mexico, in 
1835, he resigned his position to accept a place as a member 
of the Consultation, and again was elected a member of the 
convention of 1836 from Bastrop. He served in that body, 
and became one of the signers of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. When the convention adjourned he hastened to join the 



As Told in County Names 



73 



army, becoming a volunteer aide on the staff of General Hous- 
ton, and served as such in the battle of San Jacinto. 

He was drowned in the Brazos at Velasco in 1838. One 
year later his widow and son were killed by Indians at their 
home in Bastrop County. 

COLLIN. 

Collin McKinney, in whose honor this county was named, 
was born April 17, 1776, in New Jersey. In 1780 he removed 
with his father's family to "Crab Orchard," in what is now 
Kentucky. Here he became 
accustomed to Indian war- 
fare. In the winter of 1823- 
24 he left Kentucky and lo- 
cated near where the City of 
Texarkana is situated, and 
from there, in 1831, removed 
to Hickman's Prairie, in what 
is now Bowie County, and 
while residing there was 
elected a member of the Con- 
s t i t u t ional Convention in 
1836, and was a signer of the 
Declaration of Independence. In 1840 he removed to what is 
now Collin County, which was named in his honor and the 
county seat was named McKinney. He represented this 
county two terms in the Legislature and then retired from 
public life. He died at his home in Collin County September 
8, 1861, and his body was buried near Van Alstyne. 




CORYELL. 

James Coryell, in whose honor Coryell County was named, 
was born in Tennessee in 1796. When quite a young man he 
went to Illinois, and from there came to Texas about the year 
1828, traveling down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, 
and from there to Velasco and on to San Antonio. In 1831 
he joined a company made up by the brothers James and Rezin 



74 The History and Geography of Texas 

P. Bowie, for the purpose of finding the old San Saba silver 
mines. He survived the famous Indian fight which took place 
while on their way and returned to San Antonio. Later on he 
came over to the Brazos, near where Marlin is now situated, 
making his home with the family of Arnold Cavitt. 

In 1835 Coryell went with Cavitt to survey and locate land 
on what is now called Coryell Creek, in Coryell County. Early 
in 1836 he joined a company for defense against the Indians. 
While stationed at Viesca, near the falls of the Brazos, Coryell, 
with some companions, had gone about half a mile on the road to 
Perry's Springs, when they found a bee tree which they cut 
down, and were sitting around eating the honey and talking. 
In a short time they heard a noise as of sticks breaking. They 
looked up and saw twelve Indians. Coryell had told the party 
that he had been sick and was unable to run. Coryell rose to 
his feet. One of the guns in the party was empty, one failed to 
fire and Coryell's was the only one left. Those who had no 
guns ran, and Coryell and the Indians fired at each other at 
the same time. Coryell fell, grasping some bushes. They 
then came up and scalped him. Berry, one of the party whose 
gun had failed to fire, tried it again, but it failed again and he 
made his escape. There were six men in the party, but Cor- 
yell was the only one killed. May 27, 1837. 

He was an experienced frontiersman, an excellent back- 
woodsman and a brave soldier. 

DENTON. 

John B. Denton, the son of a Methodist minister, was born 
in Tennessee in September, 1806. In early life his parents 
moved to Indiana, where his father soon died. He was then 
apprenticed to a blacksmith, who took him to Arkansas about 
1822. At the age of 17 he left the blacksmith and during the 
few next years was licensed to preach, and married. 

As an orator he soon became famous. On December 10, 
1836, by appointment of the Methodist Episcopal conference 
of Missouri, he came over into Texas and settled near Clarks- 
ville, in Red River County. Receiving an insufiicient support 



As Told in County Names 75 

from the missionary society of the church, he studied law, and 
in six months was licensed to practice and was engaged in 
the practice, supporting himself and family while he kept up 
his missionary work. 

In May, 1841, General Tarrant made a campaign in the west 
against the Indians and had Denton as his aide. Moving out 
as far as Village Creek, in what is now Tarrant County, they 
encountered the savages and defeated them in a desperate bat- 
tle. There were a number of Indian villages at several places 
on the creek and the object of the campaign was to drive them 
off and destroy their villages. The place where this fight took 
place was on the creek in sight of the present crossing of the 
Interurban Railway between Fort Worth and Dallas. 

After the fight Denton was sent out with ten men to scout 
the country, and going east his men were attacked from am- 
bush just as they were entering one of the forks of the Trin- 
ity, and Denton was killed. When shot his men took his body 
from his saddle, and after wrapping it with a blanket, carried it 
to the prairie on the south side of the creek and buried it. The 
settlers and old frontiersmen, in 1860, exhumed the remains 
and buried them on Chisholm's Ranch, and in 1901 the Old 
Settlers' Association of Denton County again exhumed the re- 
mains and reburied them in the courthouse square in Denton, 
amid imposing ceremonies, and erected a suitably inscribed 
monument to his memory. His oldest son. Dr. A. N. Denton, 
was a member of the Thirteenth Legislature, and from 1885 
to 1888 was Superintendent of the State Lunatic Asylum at 
Austin, Texas. 

GAINES. 

James Gaines was born in Culpepper County, Virginia, in 
1779. He was a brother of Gen. Edward Pendleton Gaines. 
He accompanied his brother, then a Lieutenant in the United 
States Army, to Nashville, Tenn., in 1803, and aided him in 
making a survey of the waterway extending from Nashville 
down the Cumberland River to the Ohio and from there to 
New Orleans. 

He went with the United States troops to Nachitoches and 



76 The History and Geography of Texas 

vicinity in 1805 and established a mercantile business and a 
ferry across the Sabine River near the northeast corner of 
what is now Shelby County, where the old road leading from 
San Antonio to Nachitoches crossed that river. 

He remained here in business until 1812, when, being in 
hearty sympathy with the revolution of Mexico against Spain, 
he joined the Republican Army of the North under Gutierres 
and Magee, but with many other Americans resigned from the 
army after the defeat of Elisondo at San Antonio and returned 
to Gaines' Ferry and resumed business. 

In 1836 he was elected as a delegate from Sabine to the Con- 
stitutional Convention and was a signer of the Declaration of 
Independence. In 1839 he represented the county of Sabine 
in the Congress of the Republic of Texas and later moved to 
Bastrop County, where he was residing when the gold excite- 
ment of 1849 lured him to California. He made that state his 
permanent home and died there a few years later. 

HALL. 

Warren D. C. Hall was born in Guilford County, N. C, in 
1788, studied law and went to Louisiana, locating at Nachi- 
toches. He joined the Republican Army of the North, under 
Gutierres and Magee, and was made Captain of a company in 
that expedition. Gutierres had escaped the bloody vengeance 
which Hidalgo, his leader in the revolution of Mexico against 
Spain, had suffered, and great sympathy was felt in the south- 
west for the cause of liberty in Mexico. Hall was a warm sup- 
porter of the cause and shared in all the engagements against 
the Royalists in this expedition, but when, under an order 
from Gutierres, some of the prisoners captured at Alazan 
Heights were cruelly butchered, he resigned his command and 
returned to Louisiana. In 1817 he again joined a similar ex- 
pedition under Aury, but this expedition, after reaching Sota 
La Marina, returned to Louisiana. He finally removed to 
Texas in 1835, locating in Brazoria County, and for a time 
was Adjutant General under President Burnet. He then re- 
tired to private life and died on Galveston Island in 1868. 



As Told in County Names 



77 



HARRIS. 



John R. Harris, in whose honor Harris County was named, 
was born at East Cayuga, N. Y., in October, 1790, and was 
reared and educated there. He joined the United States army 
and served in the War of 1812, 
commanding a company in the 
regiment of which his father 
was Colonel. Both were honor- 
ably mentioned by General 
Scott. He was married to Jane 
Birdsall in 1816, removed to 
Missouri, locating near St. Gen- 
evieve, where he made the ac- 
quaintance of Moses Austin, 
and became interested in his 
scheme of colonizing Texas. De- 
termining to come to Texas in 
1821, he carried his family back 
to New York, there to remain 
until he could settle. Having 
made a contract to complete a 

public building in Vincennes, Ind., he first went there, and a 
little over a year later came to Texas. He obtained title to a 
league of land from the Mexican Government in July, 1824, 
which he located at the junction of Bray's Bayou and Buffalo 
Bayou. In 1826 he laid out a town which he called Harris- 
burg, and a year later brought out machinery for a grist mill, 
sawmill, and a blacksmith, and carpenter shop, and erected a 
store, thus forming the nucleus of a town. He also became 
interested in one of the boats plying between Buffalo Bayou 
and New Orleans, and in a schooner called the "Rights of Man" 
which, under command of one of his brothers, ran between 
Harrisburg and New Orleans, and the Mexican ports. He was 
appointed Alcalde, and held his court under a magnolia tree, 
where the cotton compress of Wald and Nevil is now located. 
While in New Orleans on business, he was taken ill with yel- 
low fever and died there August 18, 1829, leaving a widow and 




78 The History and Geography of Texas 

four children. The municipality, afterward established, took its 
name from the town and when counties were created in 1837 
the name Harris was substituted for Harrisburg. The old town 
is now a suburb of the city of Houston. 

HARRISON. 

This county was named in honor of Jonas Harrison. Al- 
though he has many descendants in Texas, few facts as to his 
career are available. In a document on file in the General Land 
Office to which is appended his original signature, he stated 
that he was a native of New Jersey and with his wife and sev- 
en children came to Texas in 1821. This was the year of Long's 
last expedition. With his wife and children he settled con- 
veniently near the Louisiana line in what is now Shelby Coun- 
ty and lived there the remainder of his days. He was a man 
of superior intelligence, popular address and public spirited, 
was a lawyer by profession but living as he did, so many years 
before there was any organized government or courts, he sus- 
tained himself and family on his farm. In 1832 and 1833, he 
represented his section (Tenaha) in the convention for separ- 
ate statehood, which appears to have been his last public ser- 
vice. He died in 1837, and his remains were buried on his 
farm. 

HILL. 

Dr. George W. Hill was born on Hill Creek in Warren Coun- 
ty, Tennessee, April 22, 1914. After attending the common 
schools of that vicinity he took a college course in Wilson Coun- 
ty, Tennessee, and from there went to Transylvania Univers- 
ity, where he completed a course in medicine. At the age of 
twenty-three he came to Texas and located in "Old Franklin" 
in Robertson County, and began the practice of his profession, 
and was there married to Matilda Slaughter. At the solicita- 
tion of President Houston he accepted the office of Indian 
Agent and in 1840 or 1841 moved out to Spring Hill, now in 
Navarro County. He was elected to the Texas Congress and 
served for the years 1839, 1840, 1841 and 1842 and in 1843 



As Told in County Names 79 

was appointed Secretary of War by President Houston and re- 
appointed by President Jones in 1844 and served until the An- 
nexation. He afterward served in the Texas Legislature. Dur- 
ing all these years ne practiced his profession when duty and 
opportunity called, exposing himself at all times to the many 
dangers from savages and frontier life and in this way greatly 
endeared himself to the people. He died at Spring Hill, Na- 
varro County, and his body was buried there, May 29, 1860. 

HOPKINS. 

This county was named for the pioneer family Hopkins of 
which David Hopkins was the patriarch. 

David Hopkins was born in Indiana in 1825 and came to 
Texas with his parents in 1840 and settled in Lamar, then a- 
part of Red River County, where his parents died. David re- 
moved into what is now Hopkins County in the winter of 
1843-4 and married Annie Hargrave in 1846. There were sev- 
eral children of the marriage. Shortly after moving down 
there several members of the family of his father came, among 
them A. J. Hopkins, who was elected the first County Clerk of the. 
county after its organization in 1848, and died in the same year. 
When the Hopkins family moved into that region, the settle- 
ments were few and much scattered and for several years they 
were, like most other people on the extreme frontier, greatly 
harassed by the Indians. 

JOHNSON. 

Middleton T. Johnson was born in South Carolina in 1815, 
came to Texas in 1839 and located in Shelby County. He repre- 
sented that county in the last Congress of the Republic of Tex- 
as in 1845. At the commencement of the United States-Mex- 
ican War he volunteered as a soldier in the United States army 
and served throughout the war. In 1848 he was elected Lieu- 
tenant Colonel of Bell's Regiment of Texas Rangers, and put 
in command of the district of Red River, which extended far 
out on the northwestern frontier. He served alternately in 



80 



The History and Geography of Texas 



the Ranger service and in the Legislature up to 1860. In that 
year Governor Houston commissioned him to raise a regiment 
for the ranger service, and he was engaged in that service when 
elected a delegate to the Secession Convention in 1861. He was 
then commissioned as a Colonel of a regiment in the Confeder- 
ate Army and served throughout the Civil War. He returned 
to Texas in 1865 and was elected a member of the State con- 
vention which assembled in February, 1866, and died while a 
member of that body in March, 1866. 

KERR. 



James Kerr was born near Danville, Ky., September 21, 1790. 
He was the son of a Baptist minister, and removed with his 
father's family to St. Charles County, Mo., in 1808, and in 

1812 volunteered in the United 
States Army and was promoted 
to the rank of Lieutenant. He 
studied law but never practiced. 
He was married in 1819 to the 
daughter of General James 
Caldwell, Speaker of the House 
of Representatives, at St. Gen- 
evieve, Mo. He served several 
terms as Sheriff of St. Charles 
County, and then removed to 
St. Genevieve and was twice 
elected a member of the Legis- 
lature from that county, and in 
1824 was elected to the State 
Senate, which position he re- 
signed in 1825 to become gen- 
eral manager of DeWitt's Col- 
ony. In the same year he ar- 
rived in Texas with his family. 

Leaving his family on the Brazos, he proceeded to DeWitt's 
Colony on the Guadalupe. In company with Erastus (Deaf) 
Smith, he reached the Guadalupe in June and began work. 




As Told in County Names 81 

Soon after his departure from the Brazos his wife and two 
children died, leaving to his care an infant daughter. He went 
vigorously to work and before July, 1826, had laid out the 
town of Gonzales, when settlers began to arrive. 

On July 3, during his absence, the Indians attacked the set- 
tlement, killing three of his men, and Kerr for a time aban- 
doned the place and moved over on the lower Lavaca River, 
making his permanent home there, but managing the affairs 
of the colony. He was a member of the convention of 1832 and 
1833 and in 1835 participated in the engagement at Fort Li- 
pantitian on the west bank of the Nueces River. He was also 
a member of the Consultation in 1835 and of the Constitu- 
tional convention of 1836, which declared independence, and 
was a member of the Third Congress of the Republic of Tex- 
as. He died at his home on the Navidad River in Jackson Coun- 
ty, December 23, 1850. 

KINNEY. 

H. L. Kinney, the founder of Corpus Christi, was born in 
Pennsylvania in 1813, and came to Texas in 1838. In 1840 he 
located near the present site of Corpus Christi and went to 
merchandising. He was elected a member of the First State 
Constitutional convention in 1845 and represented that section 
in the Legislature several terms. In 1856 he promoted an ex- 
pedition to Central America; became a candidate for Governor 
of one of the states of Nicaraugua; was finally defeated and 
returned to Texas broken in fortune. He later held several 
minor offices. He became involved in the difficulties between 
the "Rohos and Crinolines" at Matamoros and was killed there 
in July, 1861. 



82 The History and Geography of Texas 



LOVING. 

Oliver Loving was born m Hopkins County, Ky., in 1813, 
and was reared and educated there. He married Susan D. 
Morgan of Muhlenburg County in that state. In 1839 he came 
to Texas, located in Lamar and in 1840, removed to Collin 
County, settling near the site of the present town of Piano, 
where he engaged in farming and stock raising. All supplies 
of merchandise and all products of the farm were carried in 
ox wagons to and from Jefferson, and occasionally to and from 
Houston, and he was engaged much of his time in hauling 
freight. In 1850 he hauled supplies for the United States Gov- 
ernment from Jefferson to Port Belknap (Young County). 

In 1855 he removed to Palo Pinto County, locating in a 
valley named for him, "Loving's Valley." Greatly enlarging 
his business of raising horses and cattle, some times he sent 
large herds as far East and north as Illinois, and in 1860 drove 
the first herd of cattle ever sent to Colorado. During the Civil 
War he removed his family to Weatherford and furnished 
from his ranch large supplies of cattle and hogs to the Con- 
federate Government. In 1866 he formed a partnership with 
Charles Goodnight and 1867 they started with a herd of steers 
to New Mexico. While on his way up the Pecos River he was 
shot by Comanche Indians, and was taken to Fort Sumner, 
where he died and was temporarily buried. In 1868 his body 
was removed to Weatherford and reinterred. 



As Told in County Names 



MAVERICK. 



Samuel A. Maverick was born in Pendleton District, South 
Carolina, in 1803. After attending the preparatory schools 
of his native state he was sent to Yale College at New Haven, 
Connecticut, and after finishing 
the course of study there he 
went to Virginia and studied 
law. 

In 1835 he came to Texas, lo- 
cated at San Antonio and was 
there when the Texas Revolu- 
tion began. Under Ben Milam 
he took part in the storming and 
capture of Bexar. Being famil- 
iar with the place, he rendered 
invaluable aid in outlining the 
course of the storming party. 
He then adopted San Antonio 
as his home, and with Juan An- 
tonio Navarro, was sent as a delegate to the convention which 
declared independence and framed the Constitution of the Re- 
public of Texas in March, 1836. 

In 1842, during a session of the District Court in San An- 
tonio, he, with members of the court and other prominent cit- 
izens was captured by General Woll, who made a raid into 
Texas from the Rio Grande. He was taken to Castle Perote, on 
the road from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico, where with 
a ball and chain he was made to labor on the public works. 

After his release from prison he returned to San Antonio, 
and in 1845 represented Bexar County in the State Constitu- 
tional convention, afterward serving several terms in the State 
Legislature. His last public service was to negotiate a surrender 
of United States property in San Antonio to the Confederate 
Government in 1861. He died in San Antonio in 1870, leaving 
a large family surviving him. 

"Maverick" has become an American word and as such has 




84 The History and Geography of Texas 

been a subject of misapprehension. The irony of fate has in 
this case an apt ilkistration in the following- statement of Hon- 
orable George M. Maverick, one of the sons of S. A. Maverick. 

"Late in the year 1845, Samuel A. Maverick was tempor- 
arily residing at Decrow's Point on Matagorda Bay. He was 
a lawyer with a strong propensity to speculation in land. 

"During that period, a neighbor becoming indebted to him 
in the sum of $1,200, paid the debt in cattle, transferring 400 
head at $3.00 per head. There was no market for cattle in 
those days, the hides only being marketable. He did not want 
the cattle, but it was a case of cattle or nothing, so he took 
them and left them in charge of a colored family while he 
returned to San Antonio. In 1853 the cattle were removed 
from the coast up to Conquista, fifty miles below San Antonio. 
Here as before, under the distinguished management of the 
colored family the cattle were left to graze, to fatten and to 
wander away. Mr. Maverick was absorbed in his real estate 
business in San Antonio. About one-third of the calves were 
branded, so that in 1865 the entire plant or brand was esti- 
mated at only 400 head. To the ingenuous mind the explana- 
tion is clear, that the branding of 'Maverick's' was 'square.' 
The neighbors shrewdly surmised that all unbranded calves 
and yearlings were mavericks, and the lawful property of the 
first man who could get his brand upon them, this being at 
that time the only evidence of ownership. About the year 
1856 he sold the entire herd, still only 400 head, to A. Toutant 
Beauregard, a brother of the distinguished Confederate Gen- 
eral, at $6.00 per head. With the exception of this experience, 
Mr. Maverick never owned any cattle except probably a few 
milk cows to supply his domestic wants." 



As Told in County Names 



85 




MENARD. 

This county was named for Colonel Michael Branaman Me- 
nard, who was born in the village of La Prairie, near Montreal, 
Canada, December 5, 1805. His parents v/cre French. 

At the age of 16 he engaged 
in the northwestern fur trade in 
the employ of an American com- 
pany at Detroit. Later he went 
to Missouri at the solicitation 
of his uncle, Pierre Menard, 
then Lieutenant Governor of • 
the Territory of Missouri and 
an extensive fur trader, and for I 
several years was the manager 
of his uncle's business. Becom- 
ing attached to the Indians, he 
determined to remain among 
them and was elected chief of 
the principal tribe of the Shaw- 
nees, which station he held for 
several years. 

In 1833, Colonel Menard came 
to Texas and settled near Nacogdoches, where he traded with 
the Mexicans and Indians. He then became interested with 
McKinney and Williams in the construction of a mill and trad- 
ing post on a small stream flowing into the Trinity River near 
the present line of Polk County, named for him, Menard Creek. 

When the Texas Revolution broke out the Mexicans endeav- 
ored to incite the Indian tribes on the frontier to overrun and 
desolate the country. At the solicitation of the Texas Govern- 
ment, Colonel Menard went among them, and by his personal 
exertion prevented an invasion and kept them quiet. He was 
a member of the convention which declared the independence 
of Texas and framed the Constitution of the Republic. 

In December, 1836, at the first session of the First Con- 
gress, Colonel Menard obtained for the price of $50,000 a 
grant from Congress for a league of land on which the city of 




86 The History and Geography of Texas 

Galveston now stands, then unoccupied by a single habitation. 
He laid out the town and associating himself with a number 
of other gentlemen, he formed the Galveston City Company 
and was its first president, and thus launched the enterprise 
of the Island City with which he was identified from that date 
until his death. 

He represented Galveston County in the Congress of Texas 
in 1839 and was the author and powerful advocate of the sys- 
tem of finance by the issue of exchequer bills which failing to 
pass that session was recommended by President Houston the 
next session and adopted, and provided a revenue that saved 
the country. 

Colonel Menard was a man of rare intelligence and noble 
character and of the highest order of enterprise and patriot- 
ism. He possessed a mind of striking originality, and was most 
agreeable in business and intercourse. He stood over six feet 
in height, was of strong muscular build, and possessed undoubt- 
ed courage. Colonel Menard left a widow, who became the 
wife of Colonel J. S. Thrasher, and a son, Daniel Menard, all 
of whom are dead. He died September 2, 1856, of carbuncle. 
His funeral took place from the Cathedral in Galveston, and 
his remains were followed to their last resting place in the 
Catholic Cemetery by almost the entire community. 

MONTAGUE. 

Daniel Montague was a son of Richard Montague. He was 
born at South Hadley, Mass., August 22, 1798. He received 
a good education at his home and chose the profession of sur- 
veyor and civil engineer. 

He left Massachusetts about 1820 and located in Louisiana, 
where he was a successful surveyor for about fifteen years. 
Hearing of the fall of the Alamo and the massacre at Goliad, 
he left his family in Louisiana and hastened into Texas, but 
finding upon his arrival that San Jacinto had been won and 
Santa Anna a prisoner, he returned to Louisiana and settled 
up his business affairs. 

In the fall of 1836 he came to Texas with his family and 



As Told in County Names 87 

settled at "Old Warren" on Red River in what is now Fannin 
County. He was appointed the first surveyor of the old Fannin 
land district. As the surveyors were the most hated among 
all the newcomers by the Indians, his scalp became the special 
object of their ambition. It became necessary for him to or- 
ganize the settlers against the Indians and he was engaged 
much of his time in active Indian warfare. He promptly join- 
ed the army in 1846, and commanded a company in the Mex- 
ican War. When not engaged in military service, he was sur- 
veying lands, locating land certificates in that vast region, ex- 
tending from Fannin County out as far as the present county 
of Haskell, and in this way accumulated a large landed estate. 
At the close of the Civil War in 1865, like many other promi- 
nent Texas citizens, he took up his abode in Mexico, locating 
in the valley of the Tuxpan River, where he remained eleven 
years, when learning of the death of his son, Daniel Ross Mont- 
ague, he returned to Texas, aged and feeble, to spend the re- 
mainder of his days with his only daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth 
Twitty. While on a visit to a friend at Marysville in Cooke 
County, he was stricken with pneumonia and died December 
20, 1876. Throughout his life he was a consistent Christian 
and active member of the Methodist church. 

McLENNAN. 

This county was named in honor of Neil McLennan who was 
born on the Isle of Skye, Scotland in 1788. In 1801 or 1802 he 
removed to Robeson County, North Carolina, where he lived 
with his family on a farm until 1816 when he removed to 
Florida. In 1835 he, with his wife and children, two brothers, 
and a brother-in-law and one other family procured a schooner 
and putting their families and effects into it, sailed for Tex- 
as, landing at the mouth of the Brazos and proceeded up the 
river to Fort Bend and from there went overland to Robert- 
son's Colony, and obtained land on Pond Creek. 

In 1836, Laughlin McLennan and wife and all his children 
except two were killed by Indians and about the same time 
they burned the mother of Neil McLaughlin, the two children 



88 The History and Geography of Texas 

being carried away captives. In 1838, John McLennan Sr., 
another brother was killed by Indians near Nashville on the 
Brazos. While returning to the settlements from a survey- 
ing expedition with George B. Erath, he first saw the valley 
of the Bosque. He exchanged his Pond Creek place for the 
certificates which he located on the Bosque River in 1839 and 
settled there the next year and built the first dwelling, a log 
cabin, in McLennan County. There he reared his family, living a 
quiet life, except when engaged in fighting the savages which 
infested that county for ten years later. He died in 1867. 

His son, Neil McLennan, Jr., born in 1828, died in 1893, at 
Waco, Texas. 

PARKER. 

The Parker family came from Illinois in 1833 and settled 
near where the present town of Groesbeck, in Limestone Coun- 
ty, is situated. They, as usual with the first settlers, built a 
log fort for protection against the Indians. The little settle- 
ment, thirty-five in number, of whom only five were able to 
bear arms, were in their fort when on May 19, 1836, several 
hundred Comanche Indians came and inquired for a water- 
hole where they could camp and also asked for a beef. 

Benjamin Parker, being then in his seventy-ninth year 
stepped out to show them the waterhole, and was instantly 
shot down. The Indians then rushed into the fort, killing 
Silas Parker, Samuel Frost, and Robert Frost and wounding 
Mrs. Sarah Parker. They made prisoners of Mrs. Rachael 
Plummer, and her son, James P. Plummer, two years old, Cyn- 
thia Ann Parker, eight years old, and John Parker, six years 
old, and Mrs. Kellogg. The others escaped and after wandering 
in the wilderness several days reached the Brazos in what is 
now Grimes County. 

Mrs. Kellogg was in capitivity for six months, Mrs. Plum- 
mer for over a year. A short time after her capture Mrs. 
Plummer gave birth to a child, the crying of which so annoyed 
the savages that they killed it in a most cruel manner in her 
presence. She was then delivered over to an old squaw who 
treated her in a most cruel manner. She supposed that both 



As Told in County Names 89 

her father and son had been killed but they, being in the field 
at work, had escaped. 

One day when some distance from the Indian camp, though 
in sight of it, the old squaw attempted to beat her with a club, 
but she wrenched the club from the old squaw's hands and 
with it felled her to the ground. For this act of bravery the 
Indians patted her on the shoulder and praised her greatly. 
She received better treatment from this time on, and in time 
she was sold to a Santa Fe trader, who took her to Missouri, 
whence she finally made her way back to her friends in Texas. 
After six years of captivity her son was restored to his peo- 
ple only to find that both his parents were dead. 

Cynthia Ann Parker was among the savages for nearly a 
quarter of a century and became the wife of a chief. In 1860 
she was captured by Captain L. S. Ross (later Governor of 
Texas). She was sent to the settlements. The venerable 
Isaac Parker, an uncle, went to the camp and she was identi- 
fied as the long lost niece. She returned with him and soon 
learned her native language, which she had forgotten. She 
died, leaving several children by the Indian chief. Her son, 
Quanah Parker, after whom the county seat of Hardeman 
County is named, remained with the Indians and became a 
chief. Isaac Parker was a member of the Third, Fourth, Sixth, 
and Seventh Congresses of the Republic of Texas from Hous- 
ton County. He was also a member of the first State Consti- 
tutional Convention in 1845. After serving several terms in 
the Legislature from the region now known as Parker County 
he died in the early 80's at an advanced age near the city of 
Weatherford. 

For the blood curdling horrors of this tragedy and much 
interesting data about the subsequent careers of this family 
see "Border Wars of Texas" by De Shields. 

PARMER. 

Martin Parmer was born in Virginia and was educated in 
that state. In 1796 he removed to Tennessee, where he mar- 
ried Sarah Hardwick and engaged in business in Dickson 
County. 



90 



The History and Geography of Texas 



In 1818 he removed to Missouri and settled upon the ex- 
treme frontier of that territory among the Indians. He was 
a member of the convention which framed the Constitution 
of that state and of the First Legislature of the state after its 
admission into the Union. 

He came to Texas in 1825 and located at Mound Prairie (now 
near Alto in Cherokee County). He soon became one of the 
leaders in the so-called Fredonian War in 1827. He was 
among the Indians again six or eight years and then reap- 
peared in public life as member of the Consultation in 1835, 
representing Tenaha (Shelby). He was chosen a member of 
the Constitutional Convention in 1836, representing San Aug- 
ustine. He died in 1837. 

SMITH. 



General James Smith, in whose honor this county was nam- 
ed, was born in Spartanburg District (now county), South 
Carolina, September 10, 1792, and was reared and educated 

there. He volunteered as 
a private soldier at the age 
of twenty and served un- 
der General Jackson dur- 
ing the War of 1812, his 
last service in that war be- 
ing in the battle of New 
Orleans. He returned to 
South Carolina and in 
1816 was married to Han- 
nah Parker. Three years 
later he removed to Lin- 
coln County, Tenn., and en- 
gaged in farming. He was 
soon chosen leader of a vigilance committee for the protection 
of the citizens from Indians and the rough characters of what 
was then a frontier country. It is related that he was equal 
to every emergency and that he afforded ample protection and 
security to the community. 




As Told in County Names 91 

He came to Texas in 1834 in advance of his wife and chil- 
dren, who followed in 1835, reaching Texas on January 1, 
1836. He settled in Nacogdoches (now Rusk) County on a 
league and labor (4,605 acres) of land, which he had selected 
for himself and opened up a farm. 

Being desirous of aiding his struggling countrymen, he re- 
turned to Tennessee early in 1836 and raised a company of 
seventy-five volunteers from Tennessee and Alabama. He 
brought his company to Texas and enlisted in the service. He 
expended his own money for subsistence and transportation 
and for the mounts, arms, and ammunition of his men, pur- 
chasing at New Orleans five stacks of arms. After Texas had 
won independence, his company was mustered out of service. 

In August and September, 1836, when many of the soldiers 
after being discharged, were returning to Nacogdoches in a 
destitude condition, at considerable expense to himself, he sup- 
plied their needs. In 1837 and 1838 the settlers in that and 
adjacent regions were frequently driven from their homes and 
they always fled to General Smith's residence for subsistence 
and protection. In 1839 he led a body of troops to aid General 
Burleson in the Cherokee troubles. In 1841 he was again 
put in command of troops in what was then the northwestern 
frontier, and for his valuable services received a vote of thanks 
from the Congress of the Republic. In 1844, he was com- 
missioned by President Houston to raise a force of men and 
ordered to repair to the scences of anarchy then prevailing 
in Shelby County in the Regular-Moderator War. He assem- 
bled 500 men and repaired to the scene, and by his prudent and 
firm conduct the belligerents were induced to lay down their 
arms and submit to the law. 

He enjoyed the close friendship of Houston, Rusk, Hender- 
son and other leaders of that day. He at one time declined 
a place in the Cabinet of President Houston. His admiration 
for Governor Henderson may be seen in the following: When 
the county of Rusk was created from Nacogdoches in 1843, 
General Smith's plantation being near the center of the coun- 
ty, he offered to donate sixty-nine acres of land for the pro- 
posed county site, provided it should be named Henderson and 



92 



The History and Geography of Texas 




TOMB OF GENERAL SMITH 



provided further that whenever it ceased to be called Hender- 
son the land should revert to his estate. 

After annexation he ceased to take an active part in politics. 
His farm, adjacent to the town of Henderson, afforded him am- 
ple income, though for a short period he engaged in merchan- 
dising, and here he spent the remainder of his days. He died 
on his farm, December 25, 1855, and was buried with mili- 
tary honors. General Rusk officiating. His tomb is of mas- 
sive brick and stone, tweh'e feet high, and is still standing 
and his portrait hangs over the Judge's stand in the District 
Court room of Rusk County. 

In politics he was a faithful disciple of Andrew Jackson 
and in religion a loyal member of the Baptist Church. He has 
many descendants some of whom have taken a leading part 
in the different walks of life. 




As Told in County Names 93 



STARR. 

Dr. James Harper Starr in whose memory Starr County 
was named, was a descendant of Dr. Comfort Starr who came 
from Ashford, England, to Massachusetts in 1635, and located 
near Boston. Nicholas Starr, grand- 
father of Dr. James Harper Starr, after- *' -. 
ward located at Groton, Connecticut, and 
was one of the citizen volunteers, who 
fell in defense of Fort Criswold, Septem- 
ber 6, 1781. The name Nicholas Starr 
is inscribed on the monument erected on 
Groton Heights. 

James Starr, one of the sons of Nich- 
olas, was only five years old at the date 
of the death of his father. Although left an orphan at this 
early age, he succeeded in obtaining a fair education and es- 
tablished himself as a machinist and wheelwright. On the 
13th of September, 1801, he was married to Miss Shaw, daughter 
of David Shaw of East Meriden, Conn., and settled at New 
Hartford where he resided until 1815 and then moved with 
his family to Ohio and settled near Worthington, where he died 
July 8, 1824. 

Dr. James Harper Starr was born at New Hartford, Con- 
necticut, December 16, 1809. He had few educational advan- 
tages but was a zealous student and conducted the farm for his 
mother, the older brother having left home to engage in other 
pursuits. An injury to his knee resulted in the loss of the 
use of this joint and disabled him from the duties of the farm. 

He then attended the Academy at Worthington and taught 
school at intervals about six miles from Columbus. About that 
time a medical college was established at Worthington. He 
attended this college and was one of its first graduates. In 
the spring of 1832, he went south and located at McDonough 
in Henry County, Ga., and later located at Pleasant Grove, in 
the same county, where he practiced his profession. 

On the 1st of February, 1833, he was married to Miss Har- 



94 The History and Geography of Texas 

iet J. Johnson, daughter of Samuel Johnson. He continued in 
the practice of his profession until March, 1836, when he left 
with his family for Texas. 

When they reached Perry County, Alabama, he heard of the 
conditions in Texas and suspended his journey. On the 1st 
of January, 1837, he again started for Texas and arrived at 
Nacogdoches January 17, 1837. The Indians were at that time 
harassing the settlers and Dr. Starr joined one of the com- 
panies organized at Nacogdoches and pursued the savages as 
far as the Tehuacana Hills. 

Dr. Starr's brother, Franklin J. Starr, was afterward in 
one of those campaigns and from exposure during the cam- 
paign died July 7, 1837. This deranged the plans of Dr. Starr 
as he had to take charge of his brother's affairs and look after 
the family. He then purchased a home in Nacogdoches and 
lived there for a third of a century. The Indian troubles con- 
tinued and he kept himself in readiness to repel raids con- 
stantly, up to the time of the expulsion of the Cherokees and 
other Indians from that part of the State. 

In January, 1838, he was appointed President of the Board 
of Land Commissioners for Nacogdoches County, a very re- 
sponsible position at that time. 

The Cordova rebellion broke out about that time and Dr. 
Starr took an active part in supressing it, first as a private 
then as surgeon in the army. 

In May, 1839, he was appointed Secretary of the Treasury 
by President Lamar. He resigned in the autumn of 1840 and 
returned to Nacogdoches and resumed the practice of medicine. 
He was a surgeon in the command organized by General Smith 
to suppress the Regulator-Moderator War. His interests in 
land matters soon became so large that he gave up his pro- 
fession and connected with him in his land business, Nathaniel 
Amory, and continued with Mr. Amory until the Civil War. 
After the war he associated with him his son and in 1870 they 
removed to Marshall, and in 1873 he retired from active bus- 
iness and died in Marshall July, 1890. 

He was an active sympathizer with the Confederate cause. 
He was appointed Receiver of the Confederate States Court at 



As Told in County Names 95 

Tyler, and also accepted the appointment as agent of the Post 
Office Department of the Confederacy and was at the head of 
the department west of the Mississippi after the fall of Vicks- 
burg, with headquarters at Marshall. 

STERLING. 

This county was named for Captain Sterling, of whom we 
know little or nothing beyond the fact that he was a buffalo 
hunter and some time in the sixties pitched his camp on a creek 
in what is now known as Sterling County. Here he hunted buf- 
faloes for their hides. He shipped the hides to Fort Concho and 
engaged in the business as long as there were buffaloes in the 
country. He left that country about 1881 and went to Arizona. 

TARRANT. 

E. H. Tarrant was born in North Carolina in 1796. He re- 
moved from there when quite young to Tennessee and served 
under General Jackson in one or two campaigns against the 
Indians and participated in the battle of New Orleans, Janu- 
ary, 1815. 

In 1835, he came to Texas and joined the army and at the 
close of the Revolution in 1836, joined the Ranger service and 
commanded the forces of the northwestern frontier. In 1838 
he was chosen to represent Red River in the Congress of the 
Republic, but resigned to engage again in command of the 
Rangers for the protection of the northwestern frontier. His 
most notable conflict with the Indians was on Village Creek 
in 1841 in what is now Tarrant County, at a point where the 
Fort Worth and Dallas Interurban Railroad crosses that stream 
between Dallas and Fort Worth. He was, after annexation, 
several times a member of the Legislature and died in Ellis 
County in 1858. 



96 The History and Geography of Texas 



TAYLOR. 

Edward Taylor was one of those typical Tennesseeans that 
came to Texas, bringing with him his wife, two sons, and two 
daughters to settle in Robertson's Colony. Arriving at Nash- 
ville, on the Brazos in 1833, he went up Little River to the 
Three Forks, about five miles southeast of the present site of 
Belton and selected a spot for a home. 

He built himself two log cabins with a covered passage be- 
tween and made a clearing, and was making himself and his 
family comfortable. The nearest settlement to him was sev- 
eral miles down the river. 

One bright moonlight in November, 1835, eleven Indians 
made an attack upon the house. A stalwart savage presented 
himself at the door, violently shaking the shutter and demand- 
ing admittance. Being refused, he said, "Friend, no want to 
fight. Open door and give poor Indian tobacco." 

Taylor replied that there were ten men in the house; that 
he would open no door, and had no tobacco for red devils, at 
the same time punching him in the stomach with a board push- 
ed through the crack. The Indian then left. 

Mrs. Taylor threw open the door leading across the hall and 
called the boys to come to her room, which they did amid a 
shower of balls and arrows. The doorway was now securely 
fastened and a table placed against it, upon which the young- 
est boy, only twelve years old, stood. He was given a gun and 
instructed to shoot through an open space above the door 
whenever an Indian came near. A large Indian, who had 
procured an ax from the woodpile, started toward the door 
and had reached the place between the two rooms when the 
child fired and the Indian dropped dead. 

Another Indian ran up to drag his body away and the father 
fired and mortally wounded him. They had now run out of 
bullets, but there were some coals in the fireplace and Mrs. 
Taylor and the girls immediately began moulding bullets. 

The Indians now set fire to the vacated end of the house and 
danced with glee in seeing the flames climb up the roof and 



As Told in County Names 97 

to the adjoining room. The joists of the roof over the pas- 
sage had suspended to them large pieces of fat bear's meat. 
The burning room soon began to cook the meat, and blazing 
sheets of oil fell upon the wounded savage and set him afire. 
Mrs. Taylor, seeing this from the inside and listening to the 
agonizing howls of the savage said : "Howl, you yellow brute. 
Your meat is not fit for the hogs but will roast for the buz- 
zards." 

Seeing that the house was about to be consumed, Taylor 
expressed a wish to go out and surrender, but Mrs. Taylor 
would not consent. Fortunately there was a supply of home- 
made vinegar and plenty of milk in the house, and with it she 
declared she could put out the fire. She mounted a table, from 
which she could reach the roof, and the boards not being nail- 
ed, she began to tear them away, making open space far in ad- 
vance of the flames. She mounted the table and had her 
daughters pass her the fluid with which she soon quenched 
the flames. 

During all this time the savages were yelling and shooting 
arrows at her and while many entered her clothing she es- 
caped unharmed. Mr. Taylor and his oldest boy were also 
during this time shooting at the Indians as they came within 
reach, wounding one severely. When Mrs. Taylor came down 
from the roof she discovered an Indian in the outer chimney 
corner trying to start a fire. Seizing a shovel she threw it 
full of coals into his face. Seeing their plans defeated, with 
two of their braves barbecued, they retired and held council 
of war and decided to retreat. 

THROCKMORTON. 

Dr. William Edward Throckmorton, in whose honor this coun- 
ty was named was the son of a revolutionary soldier, and was 
born in Virginia in 1795. He was reared and educated there 
and graduated in medicine in 1817. He practiced medicine 
there several years and was married to Elizabeth Webb. About 
the year 1821, he moved to Tennessee and located at Sparta, 
where he practiced his profession until 1837 when he remov- 
ed with his family to Arkansas and located at Fayetteville, 

7 



^ 



98 The History and Geography of Texas 

where his wife died leaving five children, one of whom was 
James Webb Throckmorton, who became Governor of Texas, 
in 1866. 

In 1840 he was married a second time and in the winter 
of 1841-2 moved to Texas and settled on the east fork of Trin- 
ity River about ten miles north of the present town of Mc- 
Kinney. He and several other parties who came with him 
were the first settlers of that region which was at that time 
infested with Indians, who robbed, murdered and committed 
many outrages upon the settlers. This was about five years 
before the County (Collin) was created. He practiced med- 
icine there and in the settlements within reach until his death 
in 1843. 

TITUS. 

This county was named for A. J. Titus, a native of Tennes- 
see. He was born in Rutherford County on March 4, 1823. 
His father was a native of Pennsylvania, and at the close of 
the Revolutionarj^ War moved to North Carolina, and from 
there to Tennessee in 1800. In 1832, James Titus, the father, 
was employed by the United States Government to assist in 
removing Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians to Indian Terri- 
tory. Young Titus accompanied them and stopped about fif- 
teen miles north of the site of the present town of Clarks- 
ville in Red River County. After visiting various parts of 
Texas they returned to Tennessee, and in 1839 they came to 
Texas and settled twelve miles east of the site of the present 
town of Clarksville and opened up a farm and also established 
the first postoffice in the county. A. J. Titus was an active 
advocate of annexation ; opened the first road from Red River 
County to Jefferson, then the head of navigation. He built the 
first Presbyterian church in that part of Texas and organized the 
A. J. Titus Lodge of Masons. He was a Royal Arch Mason and 
Knight Templar. He was a soldier in the Mexican War. Later he 
was a member of the Legislature. Between 1846 and 1855, the 
year of his death, he spent the larger part of his time in Austin 
and Washington. He was one of the most public spirited and 
useful citizens of the State. 



As Told in County Names 99 



WILBARGER. 

Josiah Wilbarger, was born in Rockingham County, Vir- 
ginia, September 10, 1801, and with his father's family moved 
to Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1818. In 1823 the family 
moved to Pike County, Missouri, where he was married. 

With his brother, Mathias, he came to Texas in 1829. In 
the spring of 1830, Stephen F. Austin came to his "Little Col- 
ony" on the upper Colorado with two surveyors and some im- 
migrants who had already been there and selected locations. 
After Josiah and Mathias had their locations identified and 
their lines established, they went to work and erected log 
cabins and opened up farms. The location was at the junc- 
tion of what is now known as Wilbarger Creek and the Col- 
orado River, in Bastrop County, about twenty-six miles south- 
east of Austin. They were the first and only outside settlers 
until July, 1832, when Reuben Hornsby came up and occupied 
his league of land, on the same side of the river about eight 
miles from the site of the present city of Austin, his land be- 
ing mostly beautiful, fertile bottom land. 

Hornsby, being now the outside settler, his home became a 
great place of rendezvous for prospectors and general gather- 
ings of young men who frequently came up and organized into 
parties to hunt wild game, then abounding all over the country. 

Hornsby was a most hospitable man and his wife a most 
excellent housekeeper. In August, 1833, one Christian and 
wife and several young men were stopping with Hornsby. Two 
young men, Standifer and Haynie, had just come from Missouri 
to look at the country. Early in August Josiah Wilbarger came 
up to Hornsby's, and in company with Christian, Strother, 
Standifer and Haynie rode out in a northwesterly direction 
to look at the country, carrying their guns, as was the univer- 
sal custom. When they had gone about six miles northwest 
they discovered an Indian, who fled to the mountains. They 
gave chase as far up as where Duval Station of the Interna- 
tional & Great Northern Railroad is located, and then aban- 
doned the pursuit. 



100 The History and Geography of Texas 

Returning, they stopped at noon at a spring to rest and eat 
lunch. This spring is about three miles from the present City 
of Austin, and in sight of the road leading to Manor. Wil- 
barger, Christian and Strother unsaddled their horses and 
staked them out to graze, while Haynie and Standifer left their 
horses saddled. 

While eating they were suddenly fired upon by Indians, Each 
man sprang to a tree and returned the fire. The party had 
fired two rounds when a ball struck Christian and broke his 
thigh bone. Strother had already been mortally wounded. 
Wilbarger sprang by the side of Christian, when a ball from 
an Indian shattered his powder horn. Wilbarger then primed 
his gun and sprang behind a small tree, when an arrow from 
an Indian passed through the calf of his left leg, while his 
other leg was pierced by an arrow. Up to this time Standifer 
and Haynie had helped to keep up the fight, but when they saw 
that Strother was mortally wounded and Christian totally dis- 
abled, they mounted their horses and fled. Wilbarger pleaded 
with them to take him up on one of the horses, and, wounded 
as he was, ran to overtake them, when he was struck by a ball 
from behind which penetrated near the center of his neck and 
came out on the left side of his chin. He fell, apparently dead. 
The Indians came up to him, completely stripped him and tore 
the scalp from his head, all of which he remembered, among 
other things that the tearing of his scalp from his head 
sounded like the roar of thunder. The Indians then cut the 
throats of Christian and Strother, but left Wilbarger for dead. 

When Wilbarger regained consciousness the evening was far 
advanced. He had lost much blood, and his wounds were still 
bleeding. Consumed by an intolerable thirst, he dragged him- 
self to a pool of water below the spring, slaked his thirst and 
lay down in the water for an hour. Although this occurred 
in the month of August, he had become thoroughly chilled. He 
crawled out to dry land and soon fell into a profound sleep. 
When he awoke the blood had ceased to flow, but he was again 
consumed with thirst, and crawled back to the pool and slaked 
his thirst. 

The flies and maggots were now at work on his wounds, and 



As Told in County Names 101 

as night approached he determined to go as far as he could 
toward Hornsby's. When he had gone about a third of a mile 
he sank to the ground exhausted, crawled under an oak tree, 
well nigh despairing of life. The next day a relief party 
started out to hunt for Ms body and those of Strother and 
Christian, and he was found, presenting a most ghastly sight, 
all covered with blood and entirely naked except for a sock 
on one foot, which the Indians failed to take. Mrs. Hornsby 
had provided the relief party v/ith a sheet for each of the dead 
bodies, and Wilbarger was wrapped in one of them and placed 
on Roger's horse, Hornsby mounting behind, holding him with 
his arms around him to the Hornsby house. His wounds were 
thoroughly dressed and bear's oil applied to his scalp. Here 
he was tenderly nursed until able to be carried home. Al- 
though the scalp never grew entirely over his skull, he sur- 
vived eleven years, dying at his home in 1844. He left sur- 
viving him his wife and five children. His brother, Mathias, 
died a few years later. 



CHAPTER V. 



POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF TEXAS AND EVENTS 
LEADING TO THE REVOLUTION OF 1835-1836. 

When the presidential term of Guadahipe Victoria expired, 
that long series of revolutions began in Mexico, which have 
continued, with more or less frequency, down to date. One 
of the results of the first revolution was the elevation of An- 
astasia Bustamente to the Presidency. During his term of 
office the first measures hostile to the interests of Texas were 
adopted. They resulted in armed conflict in 1832 between the 
Texans and Mexicans, and but for his overthrow by Santa 
Anna disastrous consequences to Texas might have followed. 

Santa Anna, up to that time a loyal republican, now changed 
his policy, disregarding the Constitution, reorganizing state 
governments and finally turning his attention to Texas. The 
following county names represent every phase of the events 
leading up to the Texas Revolution. 



Archer 


Grimes 


Rusk 


Burnet 


Hardeman 


Somervell 


Carson 


Hardin 


Waller 


Childress 


Martin 


Wharton 


ElHs 


Mitchell 


Williamson 


Fisher 


Navarro 


Zavala 


Grayson 


Potter 





As Told in County Names 



103 



ARCHER 



This county was named for Branch Tanner Archer, who was 
born in Virginia in 1780. He studied medicine in Philadel- 
phia, and for some years was a physician and politician in his 
native state, where he served 
one or two terms as a member 
of the Legislature. In 1831 he 
came to Texas and became a 
prominent actor in the move- 
ments preliminary to the revo- 
lution. He was appointed by 
the citizens as a commissioner 
to negotiate with Bradburn at 
Anahuac for a modification of 
the orders issued by the military 
commanders of Texas. This was 
his first appearance in public 
life in Texas. He represented 
Brazoria County in the conven- 
tion of 1833, and he announced 
himself in favor of immediate 
separation from Mexico. With 
Stephen F. Austin and W. H. 

Wharton he was appointed as a commissioner in December, 
1835, to visit the United States and enlist financial aid and sym- 
pathy from that quarter. He was a member of the First Con- 
gress of the Republic and was elected Speaker of the adjourned 
session in 1837, and was for a time Secretary of War in Pres- 
ident Lamar's Cabinet. Although in feeble health in 1845, he 
was an active advocate of annexation. He died in Brazoria 
in 1856. 




104 



The History and Geography of Texas 



BURNET. 




Burnet County was named for David G. Burnet, originally 
of Newark, N. J., where he was born April 4, 1789. He re- 
ceived a liberal education and at the age of sixteen years en- 
tered the counting house of Rob- 
inson & Hartshorn, New York. 
Finding this work unsuited to 
his taste, he joined the expedi- 
tion of General Miranda to 
South America. When that ex- 
pedition failed he returned home 
and remained there until about 
1817, when he removed to Nach- 
itoches. La. Being threatened 
with lung trouble, his physician 
advised him to go into the dry 
atmosphere of Texas and live 
outdoors. He went among the 
Indians of Western Texas and 
followed their mode of living for a year or two. Recovering 
his health he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained 
seven or eight years. He came to Texas in 1826 and obtained, 
on December 22, 1826, a contract to colonize a large tract of 
country in East Texas. He sold his rights under this contract 
to a New York company. He was married in New York in 
1831 and returned to Texas. In 1833 he was a member of the 
convention at San Felipe. In 1834 he was appointed Judge 
and held court once or twice. In 1835 he was a member of 
the Consultation. In 1836 he was elected by the Constitutional 
Convention President Ad Interim of the Republic of Texas, and 
held the office until the succeeding October. In 1838 he was 
elected Vice President of the Republic, and at the end of his 
term retired to his home near the San Jacinto River. He was 
appointed Secretary of State in 1846. In 1866 he was elected 
a United States Senator, but was not permitted to qualify as 
such. He returned to Texas and died in Galveston Decem- 
ber 5, 1870. 



As Told in County Names 105 



CARSON. 

This county was named for Samuel P. Carson, Secretary of 
State in Burnet's Cabinet. He was born January 22, 1798, 
at Pleasant Gardens, Burke County, N. C. He was a member 
of the State Senate of North Carolina for two consecutive 
terms, and in 1826 became a candidate for Congress from the 
extreme western district of North Carolina. He was opposed 
by James Graham, Felix Walker and Dr. R. B. Vance, father 
of the late Senator Zebulon B. Vance. Carson was defeated. 
During the canvass Vance charged that Colonel John Carson, 
father of Samuel P., had been untrue to the colonies in the Rev- 
olutionary War. He was called upon to retract, and upon his 
refusing to do so, was challenged to fight a duel, and the chal- 
lenge was accepted. Carson went over into Tennessee and en- 
gaged Davy Crockett to drill him in pistol practice. The duel 
took place at Saluda Gap, in South Carolina, in 1827. Vance 
fell at the first fire and died at midnight. While public opinion 
sustained Carson, he ever afterward regretted the aff'air. He 
was elected to the United States Congress from that district 
in 1827, and in 1829 and again in 1831. He was a brilliant 
and fascinating orator; was a trusted friend of Andrew Jack- 
son, but, being a Calhoun Democrat, he became estranged, and 
in his campaign for re-election in 1833 was defeated, his dis- 
trict being overwhelmingly in favor of Jackson's policies. His 
health beginning to decline, he came to Texas in 1834 and se- 
lected a location for temporary residence on Red River. Dur- 
ing his absence from home his constituency elected him a mem- 
ber of the Constitutional Convention which was held in North 
Carolina in 1835. He returned to his native state and served 
in the Constitutional Convention, and when its labors were 
over came back to Texas, and in March of the next year was 
appointed Secretary of State by President Burnet. He was 
immediately sent upon a diplomatic mission to the United 
States, the only work, however, he accomplished on that mis- 
sion being to obtain protection for the settlers in East Texas 
against the Cherokee Indians. As soon as he heard of the vie- 



106 The History and Geography of Texas 

tory at San Jacinto he tendered his resignation and went to 
the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee to recuperate 
his health. He returned to Texas late in 1836 and continued 
to travel in search of health. He died at Hot Springs, Ark., 
in 1840. 

CHILDRESS. 

This county was named for George Campbell Childress, au- 
thor of the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of 
Texas. He was born in Nashville, Tenn., January 8, 1804. He 
was a son of Elizabeth Robertson Childress and James Chil- 
dress, his mother being a niece of General James Robertson, 
the founder of Nashville, Tenn. Through the influence of his 
uncle. Major Sterling C. Robertson, the empresario, he came 
to Texas in 1832 and located at Nashville, on the Brazos, in 
the colony of Robertson. He was by profession a lawyer, but 
in the absence of courts he could do little more than act as 
counselor for the settlers in perfecting their titles to the lands 
acquired under the colonization laws. In 1836 he was elected 
a delegate to the convention which declared independence and 
framed the Constitution of the Republic of Texas. He was 
a brilliant lawyer and orator, a man of great magnetism, and 
profoundly versed in political science. These qualities and his 
record as an ardent advocate for independence commended him 
to the convention as the proper person to head the committee 
to draft a declaration. After the adjournment of the conven- 
tion President Burnet appointed him as a commissioner to go 
to Washington and present the claims of Texas to President 
Jackson, the personal friend and Tennessee neighbor of Chil- 
dress, for recognition as an independent Republic. Childress 
went to Washington, but had not arrived when the battle of 
San Jacinto was fought. He remained in Washington until 
the adjournment of Congress and his mission was ended. Later 
he returned to Nashville and entered the practice of law. In 
1840 he committed suicide at his boarding house. He was 
never married. 



As Told in County Names 107 



ELLIS. 

This county was named for Richard Ellis, who was born 
in Virginia in 1782, and was liberally educated in that state, l^ 
He removed to Franklin County, Alabama, about the year 1813, 
and engaged in the practice of law and planting. He was 
elected as delegate to the Constitutional Convention which 
framed the first State Constitution of Alabama in 1819. He 
was elected Judge of the Fourth Circuit in 1820. At that time 
and up to 1832, the Supreme Court of Alabama was composed 
of the Judges of the different circuits. At the end of his term, 
in 1825, he removed to the Red River section of Texas and en- 
gaged in cotton planting upon a large scale, in what is now 
Bowie County. He was chosen a delegate to the convention of 
March, 1836, which declared independence and framed the 
Constitution of the Republic of Texas, and was elected Presi- 
dent of that body and later a member of the Congress of the 
Republic. After annexation he ceased to take an active inter- 
est in political affairs, retired to his plantation and died in 
1849. 

FISHER. 

S. Rhoads Fisher, after whom this county was named, was 
born in Philadelphia in 1795, where he was reared and edu- 
cated. He removed, about the year 1825, to New Jersey. In 
1831 he came to Texas and located at Matagorda, where he 
engaged in merchandising. In 1836 he was elected a delegate 
to the Constitutional Convention from Matagorda, participated 
in all its proceedings and was a signer of the Declaration of 
Independence. In the organization of the Cabinet of the reg- 
ular government, in 1836, he was appointed Secretary of the 
Navy by President Houston and resigned that office in 1837. 
He resumed his business at Matagorda, and died there in Jan- 
uary, 1839. 



108 



The History and Geography of Texas 



GRAYSON. 

Peter W. Grayson was born in 1788 in Kentucky, which was 
then embraced in Virginia. He sprang from a distinguished 
family in Virginia, which state also has a county named Gray- 
son. He was a man of supe- 
rior culture and was a lawyer 
by profession. He came to Texas 
in 1832, bringing with him his 
slaves, acquired two leagues of 
land in Matagorda County and 
opened up a plantation to which 
he devoted most of his time, as 
there was little to do in his pro- 
fession. In 1835, when trouble 
between Texas and Mexico came 
to a crisis, he repaired to Gon- 
zales and joined the army of 
Texas and became aide to Gen- 
eral Burleson in November, 
1835. 

When the provisional govern- 
ment was organized, in March, 
1836, President Burnet selected him as Attorney General in 
his Cabinet, to succeed David Thomas, who died shortly after 
his appointment. Later on. President Burnet sent him on a 
diplomatic mission to the United States. He succeeded Hen- 
derson as Attorney General in Houston's first Cabinet. 

At the close of President Houston's first term as President, 
Grayson became a candidate to succeed him, with M. B. Lamar 
and Chief Justice James Collingsworth as opponents. Dur- 
ing the canvass he returned to Tennessee and committed sui- 
cide, as did Chief Justice Collingsworth about the same time. 




GRIMES. 

Jesse Grimes was born in North Carolina in 1788. In 1819 
he removed to Alabama and engaged in farming. From there 
he came to Texas in January, 1829, and located in the region 
that now bears his name and again engaged in farming. His 



As Told in County Names 



109 



educational advantages in early life were meager, but he was 
a man of great force of character and of strong native intel- 
lect. He was chosen a member of the convention of 1833 from 
the municipality of Washington, of which the territory of 
Grimes County was then a part. In 1835 he was a member of 
the Consultation; he was also a member of the convention of 
March, 1836, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. 
He was a member of the Senate of the First Congress and 
President Pro Tem of the Lower House of the Sixth and Sev- 
enth Congresses of the Republic of Texas, and Senator in the 
Eighth and Ninth Congresses. He died on his plantation in 
Grimes County March 16, 1866. 

C. Grimes, a son of Jesse Grimes, was one of the heroes of 
the Alamo, killed there in the eighteenth year of his age. 

HARDEMAN. 

This county was named for the distinguished brothers, 
Bailey and Thomas Jones Hardeman, who came to Texas in 
1835. They were born in Davidson County, Tenn., about three 
miles from Nashville, the for- 
mer on February 26, 1785, and 
the latter January 31, 1788. 
They were sons of Thomas Har- 
deman, one of the first settlers 
of Middle Tennessee, a delegate 
from Davidson County to the 
convention which assembled at 
Hillsboro in 1788 to consider the 
ratification of the Constitution 
of the United States by North 
Carolina, and also a member of 
the convention that framed the 
first Constitution of Tennessee. 
He afterward moved down into 
Southwest Tennessee and was 
one of the leaders in organizing a new county named in his 
honor, "Hardeman." Here the sons were reared and educated. 
Bailey Hardeman studied law in Nashville and located at Bol- 




110 The History and Geography of Texas 

ivar, the county seat of Hardeman County, and was in the 
full practice of his profession when the Texas revolution broke 
out. In company with his brother, Thomas J., he came to 
Texas in 1835 and located in ]\Iatagorda. They had hardly set- 
tled down before they entered the active service of Texas. 
Bailey Hardeman was elected a delegate to the convention which 
declared independence and took part in the organization of 
the government ad interim; he was chosen Secretary of the 
Treasury in President Burnet's Cabinet and died about three 
months later. 

Thomas J. Hardeman was married twice, his first wife be- 
ing Miss Mary Polk, daughter of Ezekiel Polk of Bolivar, Tenn., 
and near relative of President James K. Polk. His second 
marriage was to Eliza DeWitt, daughter of the Empresario 
DeWitt. Among his children two sons became prominent in 
the military history of the State, Thomas ]\I. Hardeman hav- 
ing been in the San Jacinto campaign, in the hotly contested 
Indian fight at Plum Creek and in the Somervell expedition, 
while William P. Hardeman, after serving in various capaci- 
ties, rose to the position of Brigadier General in the Confed- 
erate Army, where he became conspicuous for his bravery in 
many hard fought battles. Thomas J. Hardeman represented 
Matagorda County in the Texas Congress in 1837-8, and was 
the first to suggest that the new capital be named for the 
Father of Texas. Later he moved to Bastrop County, and 
served in the State Legislature. He was grand master of the 
lodge of Masons of Texas in 1850. A few years later he died 
at his home in Bastrop County, Texas. Both of these men have 
numerous descendants in Texas prominent in social, business 
and political circles. 

HARDIN. 

This county was named in honor of the Hardins of Liberty. 
The family came to Texas in 1825. There were five brothers, 
viz: Benjamin Watson, Augustine Blackburn, William, Frank 
and Milton A. Hardin, sons of Swan and Jerusha Blackburn 
Hardin. The parents moved from Franklin County, Ga., to 



As Told in County Names 111 

Maury County, Tenn., in 1807, and resided there until 182"), 
when they came to Texas and located in what is now Liberty 
County, on the Trinity River. 

Benjamin Watson, the oldest son, became a member of the 
Ninth Congress of the Republic of Texas in 1844. He also 
served as sheriff for a number of years. He died January 2, 
1850, at his home in Liberty County. 

Augustine Blackburn Hardin, the second son, became a prom- 
inent citizen shortly after the arrival of the family in Texas. 

He represented Liberty in the convention of 1833, and in 
the Consultation of 1835, and in the convention of 1836, which 
declared independence, being one of the signers of that dec- 
laration. After annexation he ceased to take an active part 
in politics and retired to Liberty County, where he died, July 
27, 1871, at the home of his daughter, ]Mrs. Janet Green, about 
eight miles north of Liberty. He was buried at the old family 
burying ground, two miles below. 

William Hardin held the office of Alcalde and later of Pri- 
mary Judge in Liberty County. He then located in Galveston 
and died in July, 1839. 

Franklin Hardin was appointed surveyor of Liberty in 1834, 
and at the beginning of the revolution, in 1835, he promptly 
enlisted in the service and was elected First Lieutenant in Lo- 
gan's company of Sherman's regiment and participated in the 
battle of San Jacinto. After the battle he tendered the use of 
his premises adjacent to Liberty for keeping prisoners cap- 
tured in that battle, and the humane treatment they received 
there was the subject of special praise by IMexicans in their 
subsequent reports to their countrymen. 

On the 9th of July he organized a militia force and was 
made captain and in the same year was appointed surveyor of 
Liberty County. In 1867 he was elected to the Legislature. 
After this he retired to his home at Liberty and died there 
in 1878. 

Milton Ashley Hardin, the youngest of the brothers, removed 
to Johnson County and died at Cleburne in 1894. 

The Liberty County of the Republic of Texas embraced not 
only the present County of Liberty, but also the present Coun- 



112 The History and Geography of Texas 

ties of Hardin, Chambers, Polk, San Jacinto, Tyler, and, until 
1838, Galveston. 

MARTIN. 

This county was named for Wylie Martin, who was born 
in Georgia in 1774. He taught school for a short time. In 
1812 he was a scout under General Harrison in the northwest; 
was with General Jackson at the battle of Horse Shoe, and 
a captain in the United States Army. In 1825 he came 
to Texas and later was appointed an Alcalde in Austin's col- 
ony. For a time he was the political chief of the Department 
of Brazos. He was at first opposed to declaring independence 
as being premature. He became a member of the Consultation 
in 1835. When war seemed inevitable he raised a company 
and joined General Houston's Army at the Colorado River. He 
was sent to Fort Bend to guard the crossing of the Brazos, and 
afterward was sent to the Trinity to aid the fleeing popula- 
tion in crossing that river. He later served in the Congress 
of the Republic of Texas and died while a member of that body 
in 1842. 

MITCHELL. 

This county was named for Asa and Eli Mitchell, brothers, 
who came to Texas in 1822. Asa was born in Pennsylvania 
in 1786, was reared and educated there and was married in 
1816. From Pennsylvania he went to Kentucky in 1820. While 
visiting New Orleans he met Stephen F. Austin and came to 
Texas and settled in the year 1822 as one of Austin's orig- 
inal 300 colonists. His wife died in 1834. In 1835 he was a 
member of the Consultation and later a member of the Consti- 
tutional Convention of 1836 and a signer of the Declaration of 
Independence. After the adjournment of the convention, March 
17, he joined General Houston's Army and participated in the 
battle of San Jacinto. He first resided at Velasco, then re- 
moved to Bexar, where he resided up to his death, in 1865. 
Eli Mitchell, his brother, moved to Gonzales and died there 
some time in the seventies. 



As Told in County Names 



113 



NAVARRO. 

This county was named for Juan Antonio Navarro, who 
was born in San Antonio February 27, 1795, He was appointed 
Land Commissioner for DeWitt's Colony in 1831, and in 1834-5 
was Land Commissioner for 
Bexar District. He was a con- 
sistent Republican and an im- 
placable foe to despotism in any 
form. He, with Samuel A. Mav- 
erick, was elected delegate from 
Bexar to the convention which 
declared independence and 
framed the Constitution of the 
Republic in March, 1836. He be- 
came a member of the Texas 
Congress in 1838. In 1840 he 
accompanied the Santa Fe Ex- 
pedition as a commissioner to 
treat with the New Mexicans ; 
was captured and carried to the 
Castle of Juan d'Ulloa, where 
he was kept in close confine- 
ment until his release in 1845. He was an object of special 
hatred by Santa Anna, who condemned him to imprisonment 
for life, though during his captivity he was off'ered his liberty 
and high office if he would forever abjure Texas. Being a 
native Mexican and Texan, his zeal in behalf of Texas aroused 
all the ire of Santa Anna. Santa Anna was succeeded by Her- 
rera, a liberal, in 1845, and he released Navarro. He arrived 
at Galveston in February, 1845, after an absence of four and 
a half years. Upon his return home he was immediately 
elected a delegate to the convention which framed the first 
State Constitution, in 1845, and afterward served his district 
in the State Senate. He died in San Antonio in 1870, univer- 
sally beloved and respected by all patriots in Texas. His 
father was a native of Corsica, and in compliment to Na- 
varro the county site was named Corsicana. 

8 




114 The History and Geography of Texas 



POTTER. 

In Section 2 of Chapter CXIV, Acts of 1878, there is the 
following language : 'The County of Potter is named in honor 
of Robert Potter, a distinguished Texan in the days of the Re- 
public." 

Wheeler, in his history of North Carolina, says of him: 
''Robert Potter was a resident and representative from Gran- 
ville County. I once thought, after I had prepared a sketch 
of him, that I would omit it, and pass in silence the name of 
one who had been a member of this county in the Assembly 
and the Representative of his district in Congress. But truth 
demands that not only the good should be noticed, but those 
who have been notorious for other qualities. This, too, may 
have a moral effect. It was the custom of the Lacedemonians 
to intoxicate their servants on certain occasions before their 
young children, that their young minds, seeing vice in so fright- 
ful a mien, might avoid its seductions. Robert Potter was a 
man of no ordinary powers of intellect. With an address 
which would have graced the most polished court in Europe, 
with powers of eloquence that could command the listening aud- 
itors, and sway them to his will, and an energy that shrunk 
from no obstacle or opposition, had his early education been 
elevated by the piety of the mother of Gaston, his fierce and 
ferocious temper tamed by parental persuasion, his name might 
have stood 

"High on the dusty rolls which ages keep." 

"He was a native of Granville. He entered the navy as a 
midshipman and after a few years resigned and studied law. 
He entered into public life as a member of the House of Com- 
mons fromx Halifax in 1826. At Halifax his turbulent temper 
embroiled him in many difficulties. On one occasion, at an 
election in which Potter was opposed by Jesse A. Bynum, a 
fracas occurred at which one man was killed and the election 
broken up. He removed to Granville, from which he was 



As Told in County Names 115 

elected to the House of Commons in 1828. This was an extra- 
ordinary period. The financial condition of North Carolina 
was deplorable. The banks had become neglectful to their duty, 
and disregarded their charters. Mr. Potter opened the ses- 
sion by a resolution of inquiry. The inquiry produced a com- 
mittee, of which he was chairman ; the affairs of the banks 
were investigated ; much evil and malfeasance were proved. The 
committee reported a bill to prosecute the banks. This bill, 
after a long, heated and angry discussion, passed by one vote ; 
but the Speaker (Hon. Thomas Settle) voting with the minor- 
ity defeated its becoming a law. This gave Mr. Potter great 
popularity, and the next year he was elected to Congress in tri- 
umph over all opposition. His course in Congress was bril- 
liant and imposing. He was re-elected without opposition, but 
his career was to end soon in darkness and disgrace. On Sun- 
day, the 28th of August, 1831, moved by 

" 'Jealousy, that green-eyed monster 
That doth mock the meat it feeds upon,' 

he committed a brutal maim on two relations of his wife. For 
those outrages he was brought before legal tribunals of the 
county and fined one thousand dollars and imprisoned six 
months. After serving an imprisonment of about two years 
he became a candidate for the Legislature and was elected in 
1834." 

Wheeler omits an important circumstance, that probably had 
its influence upon his removal to Texas in 1835. At that stage 
of our civilization, when poker playing and betting at cards 
was a favorite method of nocturnal entertainment with many 
solons, Potter's uniform success in "raking in the pot" caused 
a suspicion that he was playing the role of the "Heathen Chi- 
nee," and a little close watching verified the suspicion. The 
next day, the failure of Potter to give a square deal, resulted in 
a resolution by the House expelling him from that body for 
"cheating at cards." 

The distant mutterings of the Texas revolution were then 
heard all over the East, and Potter shook the dust of North 



116 The History and Geography of Texas 

Carolina from his feet and hied himself away to Texas. He 
had been in Texas only a short time when the people of Nacog- 
doches sent him to the Constitutional convention which met at 
Washington, on the Brazos. After becoming a signer of the 
Declaration of Independence of Texas and participating in all 
the proceedings of that body, at no time hiding his light un- 
der a bushel, the fact that he had been a midshipman in the 
navy and had a brilliant and imposing career as a member for 
two terms in the Ignited States Congress, added to his over- 
powering personality, gave him a place in the Cabinet as 
Secretary of the Navy. At a Cabinet meeting, after the battle 
of San Jacinto, he vigorously and eloquently insisted that Santa 
Anna be hanged, but wiser counsels prevailed. From that time, 
up to October, 1836, he served in this capacity and managed to 
get hold of a ship. What occurred on that ship is stated in as 
light form as the circumstances would permit in the case of 
Lewis vs. Ames, reported in the 44th Volume of Reports of the 
Supreme Court of Texas. He then moved back to the Red 
River country, procured a certificate for 4605 acres as the head 
of a family in North Carolina, and located the certificate on a 
beautiful tract of land overlooking Soda Lake, in the present 
County of Marion, moved on the land and made it his home. True 
to his instincts never to be in peace except when in war, he 
soon became mixed up in the feuds of that region and made 
deadly enemies, though he had enough followers to elect him 
Senator to the Congress of the Republic of Texas in 1840. At 
the adjournment of the last session in which he served he made 
his will and went home and was killed there IMarch 2, 1842. At 
his death he was forty-two years old. 



As Told in County Names 



117 



RUSK. 




This county was named for Thomas J. Rusk, who was born 
in Pendleton District, South Carolina, on the 5th of December, 
1803. He studied law and removed to Clarksville, Ga., where 
he entered upon the practice of his 
profession. In 1834 some dishon- 
est agents ran away with the funds 
of a mining enterprise in which he 
was interested, and he followed 
them to Texas. He liked the coun- 
try and settled at Nacogdoches, 
where he began his career in Texas. 
In 1835 the Executive Council ap- 
pointed him Commissary of the 
army. In 1836 he was elected a, 
member of the Constitutional Con- 
vention, and was later made Ad- 
jutant General of the army. He actively participated in the 
battle of San Jacinto. Later when Houston left for New 
Orleans he was appointed Commander-in-Chief. In the fall of 
1836 he was made Secretary of War in the first Cabinet of 
Houston, but soon resigned to attend to his private affairs. He 
was elected to the Second Congress in Texas in 1837. In 1839 
he commanded a regiment in the war against the Cherokees. 
In the same year he was appointed by the Congress of Texas 
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, to succeed James Col- 
lingsworth, deceased. In 1836 he was elected Major General 
of the militia. In 1845 he became President of the convention 
that framed the first State Constitution, and in the next year 
was elected Senator of the United States. This position he 
filled with credit to himself and great honor to Texas until his 
death. He died by his own hand on his plantation near Nacog- 
doches in 1857. 



118 The History and Geography of Texas 



SOMERVELL. 

This county was named for Alexander Somervell, who was 
born in Maryland in 1796. In 1817 he went to Louisiana; 
thence to Missouri, where he engaged in merchandising. In 
1833 he removed to San Felipe, Texas, and there engaged in 
the mercantile business. He took an active part in the Texas 
revolution, serving as Major in the campaign around Bexar in 
1835 and later as Lieutenant Colonel of Burleson's regiment, 
in which capacity he participated in the battle of San Jacinto. 
For a time he was Secretary of War in the Burnet Cabinet, 
and was a Senator in the First Texas Congress. He served in 
the Indian Wars of 1839, and in 1842 was appointed Briga- 
dier General and put in command of the forces that pursued 
the retreating army of General Woll, and this pursuit has since 
been known as the Somervell Expedition. His forces separated 
at the Rio Grande and one portion returned with him to San 
Antonio. The other crossed the river and attacked Mier, and 
this march is usually called the Mier Expedition. After his 
return he was appointed Collector of Customs at Siluria, and 
held the office until annexation, and he was afterwards suc- 
cessively appointed until his death in 1854. He lost his life 
by drowning while on his way from the Lavaca River to Silu- 
ria, in January, 1854. 

WALLER. 

Edwin Waller was born in Spottsylvania County, Virginia, 
November, 1800. At an early age his father moved to Mis- 
souri, where he was reared and educated. He came to Texas 
in 1831 and located in Brazoria municipality. He took part 
in the battle of Velasco in 1832, and in 1833 was appointed Al- 
calde. He was a member of the Consultation in 1835 and of 
the Convention in 1836 ; was also a signer of the Declaration of 
Independence. In 1838-9 he was appointed one of the com- 
missioners to lay out the plan of the City of Austin and one 
of the principal streets and the creek, forming the original 
eastern boundary of the city, bear his name. He was chosen 



As Told in County Names 



119 



the first Mayor of the city in 1840. After the annexation he 
returned to his plantation in Austin County and for years was 
Chief Justice of the County and Representative for one term 
in the State Legislature. He represented the county in the Se- 
cession Convention of 1861. About the year 1876 he moved to 
Austin, but after a short residence returned to his plantation 
and died there in 1883. 

WHARTON. 

This county was named in honor of the distinguished broth- 
ers, William H. and John A, Wharton. They were descend- 
ants of an old and distinguished family in Virginia, and sons 




J. A. WHARTON 



W. H. WHARTON 



of William Harris Wharton, a native of Albermarle County, 
Virginia. 

About 1801, shortly after his marriage, the father removed 
to Nashville, Tenn., where both sons were born, William Har- 
ris Wharton in 1806 and John A. Wharton in 1809. Their 
father died in 1815, and their mother a short time afterward. 

Jesse Wharton, their uncle, who had removed to Nashville 
from Virginia, took charge of the orphans and directed their 



120 The History and Geography of Texas 

education. He represented Tennessee in the lower house of 
Congress of the United States from 1807 to 1809, and in the 
Senate of the United States in 1816 and 1817. 

After attending the preparatory schools, William H. Whar- 
ton entered the University of Nashville. 

Henry A. Wise, in his most entertaining volume entitled 
"Seven Decades of the Union," says of him: "At the first 
commencement of the Nashville University, which occurred 
soon after our arrival there, a youth, William Wharton, was 
introduced and delivered an oration which marked him as a 
man of great promise. He was the pride of Rev. Dr. Linds- 
ley, who then presided over the Alma Mater of many other 
distinguished alumni of the West. Wharton delivered his 
salutatory and immediately went off to Texas to join Dr. 
Archer." 

It is possible that a stronger magnet than political ambition 
lured Wharton to Texas. The beautiful and accomplished 
daughter of Jared E. Groce, the wealthiest man and the most 
extensive planter and largest slave holder in Texas, was bud- 
ding into womanhood about this time. She had come to Nash- 
ville to school. We do not know what occurred later except 
that she became the bride of Wharton. As soon as he arrived 
in Texas he became prominent in political affairs. In 1833 he 
was elected a delegate to the convention which met at San 
Felipe and was elected chairman of that body. The memorial 
prepared by him to Mexico for separate statehood is one of the 
ablest expositions in the political literature, of any time, in 
the history of Texas. 

At the commencement of the revolution of Texas against 
Mexico, in 1835, he was one of the first on the ground at Gon- 
zales, and was with the Texas forces until they reached Bexar. 
He was then notified that he was appointed by the consultation 
as one of the commissioners to the United States, the others 
being Stephen F. Austin and B. T. Archer, charged with the 
important duty of laying the cause of Texas before the people 
of that country and soliciting aid in the struggle. 

In December, 1835, he left Texas for the United States, 
where he, in most lucid and eloquent public addresses, set forth 



As Told in County Names 121 

the cause of Texas in the summer of 1836, and upon the or- 
ganization of the regular government, in the fall of that year, 
he was appointed minister to the United States. He remained 
in Washington until March, 1837, when Texas was recognized, 
and immediately after that event left for home, leaving Mem- 
ucan Hunt, who had been appointed in his stead, in charge. 

On his way home he was captured at sea by a Mexican ship 
and carried to Matamoros as a prisoner, but soon made his 
escape and returned to Texas and was elected a member of 
the Senate of the Republic, and was re-elected in 1838 to the 
same position. In March, 1839, while mounting his horse at 
his plantation in Brazoria County he was accidentally shot by 
the premature discharge of his pistol. He left surviving him a 
son named for his brother, John A. Wharton, who became Ma- 
jor General in the Confederate Army and was killed at the 
close of the war in 1865. 

John A. Wharton, after finishing his education, studied law 
and was admitted to the practice and removed to New Orleans 
in 1830 and pursued his profession there until 1833, when he 
came to Texas and located in Brazoria County. He married a 
daughter of Governor Johnson of South Carolina. 

In 1835 he represented Brazoria in the Consultation, having 
first done valuable service on the committee of safety in Bra- 
zoria. He afterward joined the army of Sam Houston, and 
was his Adjutant at the battle of San Jacinto. After the cap- 
ture of Santa Anna it was largely through the influence of 
Wharton's eloquent appeal to the army that Santa Anna's life 
was spared. 

At the close of the Texas revolution he resumed the prac- 
tice of law in Brazoria with E. M. Pease (later Governor of 
Texas) as his partner, under the firm name of Wharton & 
Pease, later becoming the firm Wharton, Pease & Harris. 

He served as a member of the lower house of the Congress 
of the Republic of Texas in 1837, and was returned in 1838, 
and died March 17, 1839, while a member of that body, and was 
buried with Masonic honors, ex-President Burnet delivering the 
funeral oration. 



122 The History and Geography of Texas 



WILLIAMSON. 

This county was named for Robert M. Williamson, who was 
born in Georgia in 1806, where he was reared and educated 
in the common schools. At the age of fifteen he was afflicted 
with white swelling, which ren- 
dered him a cripple for life, caus- 
ing him to wear a wooden leg, and 
on that account he was later widely 
known in Texas as "Three Legged 
Willie." He studied law and was 
admitted to the bar in 1827 in his 
native state, and in 1828 came to 
Texas and located at San Felipe. 
Here he learned the Spanish lan- 
guage and familiarized himself 
with the land laws of Mexico 
and Spain and was regarded as 
the best informed man in Texas upon the land laws then 
governing the country. He took an active part in all the oc- 
currences leading up to the Texas revolution. He was made 
one of the first District Judges of the Republic in 1837. In 
1840 he was elected to represent Washington County in the 
Congress of the Republic, and by successive re-elections held 
the position until annexation, after which he was elected a 
member of the First State Legislature. He served in that body 
until 1849, when he became a candidate for Congress, and was 
defeated by Volney E. Howard. He then retired to his farm 
near Independence, and his health gradually declining he died 
December 22, 1859. 




As Told in County Names 123 



ZAVALA. 

This county was named for Lorenzo de Zavala. This name 
was misspelled by the Legislature, and the mistake has been 
carried in all the official reports as "Zavalla" instead of 'Zavala.' 
This distinguished soldier, 
statesman and publicist was 
born in Merida, Yucatan, Oc- 
tober 3, 1788, of Spanish pa- 
rents. In 1794 he was sent 
back by his parents to be edu- 
cated in Spain until he was 
nineteen years old, when he 
returned to Mexico. At the 
age of twenty he was elected 
Secretary of the City Council 
of Merida, and held the office 
for six years. He was in full 
sympathy with the struggling Republicans of Mexico, and for 
his openly expressed views and aid to the revolutionists he was 
imprisoned and confined in the Castle of San Juan d'Ulloa for 
three years, during a part of which time he was placed in irons. 
He was released and returned to Merida, where he practiced 
medicine in 1817, 1818 and 1819. In 1820 he was elected to 
the Cortes of Spain. In 1822 he returned to Mexico and was 
elected Deputy to the Constituent Congress, and served in that 
capacity until the Constitutional convention of Mexico was 
called in 1824. 

He was elected a delegate to that body, was made President 
of the same, and was the first signer of the first Constitution 
of the Republic of Mexico. In 1825-26 he was a Senator in the 
First Congress of the Republic of Mexico. In 1827 he was 
made first Governor of the Federal District of Mexico. In 
1829 he was chosen Minister of Finance of the Republic. In 
1830, upon the accession of the tyrant, Bustamente, he left 
Mexico. Up to this time he and Santa Anna had been friends 
and co-workers in the Liberal cause. He returned to Mexico 




124 The History and Geography of Texas 

in 1833 to witness the waning fortunes of Bustamente and the 
ascendancy of his friend, Santa Anna. He was then elected to 
the Federal Congress, and by the unanimous vote of the House 
of Deputies he was made eligible to the office of Governor of 
the State of Mexico and held both offices at the same time. In 
1834, under the regime of Santa Anna, he was appointed Min- 
ister to France. It was now that Santa Anna threw off his 
republican mask and made himself dictator. Zavala, always 
the consistent friend of liberty, refused longer to co-operate 
with Santa Anna. Instead, he resigned his office and returned 
to America, locating in Texas in 1835, selecting his home upon 
a beautiful eminence overlooking San Jacinto River and Bay. 
He immediately advised determined resistance to the usurpa- 
tion of Santa Anna. Learning that Zavala had openly espoused 
the cause of Texas Santa Anna ordered his arrest. This was 
successfully resisted by the Texans. He was then elected a 
delegate to the Consultation at San Felipe, and when the work 
of that body was over he was elected a delegate to the con- 
vention at Washington on the Brazos. He was a signer of 
the Declaration of Independence. He aided in framing the Con- 
stitution of the Republic of Texas and in the formation of a 
provisional government by that body, and was made Vice-Pres- 
ident. At the expiration of his term he retired to his home on 
the San Jacinto and died November 11, 1836. This simple rec- 
ord explains Santa Anna's implacable hatred toward him. 
Amid the rapidly changing scenes of this eminent man's event- 
ful life he gave forth many published addresses and letters in 
behalf of Republican principles and found time to publish sev- 
eral works. Among his published works is one entitled "Viego 
Historica de los Revoluciones de Mexico," published in two vol- 
umes. Of this Bancroft says: "Any impartial, unprejudiced 
critic will recognize in the author a learned publicist, histo- 
rian, philosopher, economist and statesman." Another of his 
published works is "Viego a los Estados Unidas," of which Ban- 
croft says : "It is a philosophic work, showing a deep study of 
the manners and customs of the American people, and more es- 
pecially of their political institutions." His object in publish- 
ing this work was to educate his fellow countrymen into a just 



As Told in County Names 125 

appreciation of the spirit of liberty as manifested in the insti- 
tutions of our country. Santa Anna sought by every means 
in his power to destroy the influence of so great a man in the 
cause of Texas, going so far as to libel him in published state- 
ments which he had scattered over Texas ; but these had the 
opposite effect intended with the Texans. His remains were 
buried on his premises in full view of the battle ground where 
Texas liberty was won. 



126 



The History and Geography of Texas 




(•Liberty 
'Anahi 



MEXICO 



TEXAS IN 1835. 



CHAPTER VI. 
THE TEXAS REVOLUTION. 

A brief but accurate and comprehensive detail of causes and 
events which led to the revolution of Texas against Mexico is 
contained in the School History of Texas, by Barker, Potts, and 
Ramsdell, to which the reader is referred. 

The first conflict of the revolution took place at Gonzales, 
October 2, 1835. There were no casualties among the Texans. 
The next was at Goliad, October 9, where one Texan was se- 
verely wounded. On the 13th Stephen F. Austin, in command 
of the forces, proceeded to the vicinity of San Antonio, and on 
October 28th, a detachment of ninety men, under command of 
James Bowie and J, W. Fannin, were sent up the river, and at 
the old Mission Concepcion encountered a force of about four 
hundred Mexicans and defeated them with a loss of one man 
killed. The name of that man was Richard Andrews, in whose 
honor was named the County of 

ANDREWS. 

Richard Andrews, familiarlj^ known to his comrades as "Big 
Dick Andrews," because of his immense stature and physical 
strength, was one of the sons of William Andrews, a soldier of 
the Revolution. 

With his sons he came to Texas in 1818 and established a 
trading post on the Brazos River, where the town of Rich- 
mond is now situated. He fortified the place as a precaution 
against hostile Indians, opened a store and for many years 
maintained his family there, trading with the Indians, and suc- 
cessfully resisting all hostile attempts to invade his premises. 
With this sort of an experience two of his sons, Micah and 
Richard, became noted Indian fighters. 

At the first outbreak of the Texas Revolution they hastened 
to Gonzales and joined the Texas forces. 

At the battle of Concepcion Richard was killed and was the 



128 The History and Geography of Texas 

first man to lose his life in the conflicts of the revolution. His 
Brother, Micah, though wounded in the same battle, survived 
to take part in the battle of San Jacinto as First Lieutenant 
in Captain Jesse Billingsly's company of Burleson's regiment. 

About the time this battle took place Stephen F. Austin, who 
was appointed commissioner to visit the United States with B. 
T. Archer and W. H. Wharton, to seek aid for the struggling 
Texans, resigned, devolving the command upon General Ed- 
ward Burleson. The troops then marched up in the immedi- 
ate vicinity of San Antonio and invested it. 

THE STORMING AND CAPTURE OF BEXAR. 

The Texans in the interim had been reinforced by two com- 
panies from New Orleans, but as the Mexican general, Cos, oc- 
cupied a fortified place in the city and had sixteen hundred 
disciplined troops, there was considerable hesitation in at- 
tempting to capture the city with the inadequate forces of Bur- 
leson. Finally Ben Milam, becoming impatient, proclaimed that 
San Antonio ought to be taken, and stepping to the front 
shouted, "Who will follow old Ben Milam?" At the call four 
hundred men volunteered and began their attack on the 5th of 
December. The result was that General Cos surrendered his 
forces on the morning of the 9th. 

As a purely military feat this was, perhaps, the most bril- 
liant of all of the battles of the Revolution. Four hundred Tex- 
ans, under command of Milam, and later Johnson, after mak- 
ing their way through walls and going over the tops of houses 
for three days and nights, finally captured, in a fortified po- 
sition, more than four times their own number. They then 
paroled the Mexicans on the condition that they retire beyond 
the Rio Grande and not take up arms again to oppose the up- 
holding of the Constitution of 1824, for which the Texans were 
then fighting, a parole they violated at the first opportunity. 

Other smaller engagements, such as the capture of Fort 
Lipantitlan, on the west bank of the Nueces, the Grass Fight, 
etc., took place. 



As Told in County Names 129 

This victory put the Texans in complete control over all of 
the territory to the Rio Grande. 

The names of men participating in that engagement now on 
our county map are: 



Dimmit 


Lubbock 


Ward 


Glasscock 


Milam 


Swisher 


Karnes 


DIMMIT. 





Philip Dimmit was born in Pennsylvania about the year 
1797, and came to Texas in July, 1822. He was a merchant 
and trader, and in 1832 established a store near the site of old 
Fort St. Louis, on the Lavaca River. Here he married a Mex- 
ican lady. The place became known as Dimmit's Point. He 
warmly espoused the cause of Texas in 1835, and commanded 
the troops at Goliad after its capture. In 1841 he moved to 
the Nueces River, fifteen miles above Corpus Christi, and be- 
gan the erection of a store, but before its completion he and 
workmen were captured by Mexican raiders from the Rio 
Grande and were carried first to Matamoros, then to Monterey; 
from there he was started on his way to prison near Mexico 
City. He made his escape at Agua Nueva (Fresh Water) and 
was recaptured. 

Preferring to die rather than suffer the horrors of a Mexican 
prison, he took a large dose of opium, wrote a letter to his 
wife, gave directions as to the disposal of his property, and 
calmly awaited his death, which soon afterward occurred. 

GLASSCOCK. 

George W. Glasscock was born April 14, 1810, in Hardin 
County, Kentucky. About 1831 he engaged in flatboating, a 
part of the time with Abraham Lincoln. 

He served with his brother, Gregory, in the Black Hawk 
War, in which his brother was killed. In 1833 he went to Jef- 
ferson County Missouri, and from there removed to Bevil (Jas- 
per) Municipality in 1834, and in 1835, as First Lieutenant in 
Cheshire's company, was in the Grass fight and at the storming 

9 



130 The History and Geography of Texas 

of Bexar. When not in military service he was engaged in 
land surveying. 

In 1840 he removed from Jasper to Bastrop County, and 
from there to Travis County in 1844, and located at Webber- 
ville, about sixteen miles southeast of Austin. In 1846 he re- 
moved to the region where Williamson County now is and aided 
in the organization of that county. The county site was named 
Georgetown, in compliment to him. He built the first flouring 
mill in that part of Texas. In 1853 he removed to Austin and 
resided there until his death, which occurred February 28^ 
1868. He took an active interest in building up Georgetown, 
donating liberally to churches, schools and other enterprises. 
With the exception of serving as a member of the Tenth and 
Eleventh Legislatures he never held public office. 

KARNES. 

Henry Wax Karnes was born in Tennessee, September 8, 
1812. Early in life his parents moved to Northwestern Ar- 
kansas and tried the business of trapping, and he there fitted 
himself for his subsequent career. He came to Texas about 
1828 and secured employment as manager of the large planta- 
tion of Jarod E. Groce, on the Brazos River, near the present 
town of Hempstead. At the first outbreak of the revolution 
he joined the army. He fought at the battle of Concepcion and 
was conspicuous for gallantry at the storming of Bexar, De- 
cember 5, 1835. 

Being one of the best scouts in the service, he was elected 
captain of a cavalry company. This company did much gallant 
service in many battles. He acted as scout for General Hous- 
ton on his retreat and kept him informed as to the whereabouts 
and strength of the enemy, engaging in several skirmishes. 

In 1837 he was appointed to take some Mexican prisoners to 
Matamoros and exchange them for Texas prisoners who had 
been captured by the Mexicans, but they made Karnes a pris- 
oner. He soon escaped. He joined the ranger service in 1838 
and in a combat was severely wounded by an Indian chief. He 
had red hair, a very strange sight to an Indian. On one occa- 



As Told in County Names 



131 




TRYING TO WASH THE WARPAINT OUT OF KARNES" HAIR. 



sion, while a prisoner of the Indians, they soaked and scoured 
his hair, over his protestations that this was its natural color, 
but they persisted in trying- to wash out the color, until con- 
vinced by actual demonstration that it was useless. He died 
in 1840 of the severe wound he had received at the hands of 
the Indian chief the previous year. 




132 The History and Geography of Texas 



LUBBOCK. 

Thomas S. Lubbock was born in Charleston, S. C, in 1817. 
He went to New Orleans at the instance of his elder brother, 
F. R. Lubbock, then a merchant at New Orleans and later Gov- 
ernor of Texas, and accepted a position 
with one Holmes, a cotton factor, in 1835. 
Shortly after his arrival the struggle in 
Texas became imminent, and meetings 
were being held in New Orleans to raise 
monej^ for the war in Texas. Adolphus 
Sterne of Nacogdoches attended some of 
these meetings and informed the people 
that Texas not only needed money, but 
men. A company was immediately organ- 
ized and young Lubbock was the first to enlist. It was agreed 
that the company would not formally organize in New Orleans, 
but proceed to Texas and then organize. Accordingly they 
started for Texas and, arriving late in September, they organ- 
ized themselves into a military company which they called the 
New Orleans Grays. 

They proceeded on a steamer up the Brazos to Brazoria, and 
from there marched overland to San Antonio and did gallant 
service at the storming of Bexar. As the result of this battle 
was the driving of the Mexicans entirely out of Texas, the com- 
pany remained at San Antonio for some time. In January, 
1836, Lubbock's health beginning to fail, he left the army and 
returned to the Brazos, where he obtained employment on a 
steamer, and did not learn that Texas was invaded again until 
his arrival at Galveston, where he heard the news of the battle 
of San Jacinto. 

Later he obtained employment from McKinney & Williams, 
at Velasco. In 1841 he went as lieutenant in command of a 
company in the Santa Fe expedition, was made a prisoner and 
carried to the Santiago Convent in Mexico, and, making his 
escape by leaping from a balcony, made his way back to Texas. 
In 1842 he was again in the army, in the Somervell expedition. 



As Told in County Names 133 

At the breaking out of the war between the States (1861), 
in company with B. F. Terry, he went to Richmond, Va., to get 
authority to raise a regiment for the war. While in Virginia 
they participated in the battle of Manassas and were honorably 
mentioned by General Beauregard for their services in that 
battle. Obtaining permission to raise a regiment of cavalry, 
they returned to Texas and organized the famous "Terry Ran- 
gers," with Terry as Colonel and Lubbock as Lieutenant Col- 
onel. On their way to Virginia a special request was made 
for their service by General Albert Sidney Johnston, and they 
went to Kentucky. Terry having been killed in a battle at 
Woodsonville, Ky., December 14, 1861, Lubbock was promoted 
to command of the regiment, but being too feeble in health, 
he retired to Nashville, Tenn., where he died in January, 1862. 

MILAM. 

This county was named for Benjamin R. Milam, who was 
born in Kentucky in 1791. He was an active participant in the 
War of 1812, and after its close he became a trader among the 
Indians of Texas. He came to Texas in 1816, while the revo- 
lution against Spain was at its height, and at once enlisted in 
the ranks. In 1820 he visited New Orleans, where, in conjunc- 
tion with Trespelacios he organized an expedition for the cap- 
ture of Tampico. When Iturbide proclaimed himself Emperor 
of Mexico Milam joined the party opposed to him. He was cap- 
tured and thrown into prison, where he remained a year, and 
was then released by an uprising of the people in favor of the 
Republican cause. Several years later he obtained, as empre- 
sario, a concession for the settlement of a colony on Red River, 
where he became acquainted with Richard Ellis. The conces- 
sion was for land outside of the limits of Texas, and on Jan- 
uary 12, 1826, he obtained another concession upon which to 
introduce two hundred families, the land being within the fol- 
lowing boundaries : beginning at the crossing of the San An- 
tonio road, of the Guadalupe River (New Braunfels) ; thence 
with said road to the Colorado River; thence up said river to 
the right bank the distance of fifteen leagues (forty miles) ; 



134 The History and Geography of Texas 

thence in a straight line parallel with the San Antonio road 
to the Guadalupe River, and thence down the river to the be- 
ginning. He sold out his rights to J. C. Beales, who in time 
sold to the Bering Brothers, in London, and nothing further 
was done with it. 

In 1832 he was at Nacogdoches and participated in the fight 
against Piedras. In 1835 he procured from the Congress of 
Coahuila and Texas the exclusive right to navigate the Color- 
ado River. When Santa Anna usurped dictatorial powers in 
the government of Mexico he publicly denounced his cause and 
was thrown into prison. He escaped and made his way back 
to Texas. When near Goliad, hearing the tramp of the forces 
marching to Goliad, he hid himself in the woods near-by and 
cried out as they were passing: 

"Who are you?" 

The answer was: "American volunteers bound for Goliad; 
who are you?" 

He replied: "I am Ben Milam, escaped from prison at Mon- 
terey." 

He joined the company and participated in the capture of 
Goliad and went with the company until San Antonio was 
reached. 

San Antonio was fortified and defended by four times the 
number of troops belonging to Texas, and for that reason there 
was some hesitation in making the attack. Milam stepped out 
in front and waving his hat, said he was going in to San An- 
tonio, and cried out: 

"Who will follow Ben Milam?" 

With a shout they rushed to his standard and the storming 
and capture of Bexar were the result. With little more than 
one-fourth the number of troops at San Antonio they stormed 
and captured the fortress in San Antonio, taking as prisoners 
1600 Mexicans. 

In the hour of victory, when reconnoitering for a final as- 
sault, he was struck by a rifle ball from the enemy and instantly 
killed, December 8, 1835. 



As Told in Counts Names 



135 



SWISHER. 

John G. Swisher was born in Tennessee in 1795. He re- 
moved to Texas with his family in 1833 and located in Rob- 
ertson's Colony, where he had many experiences in repelling 
Indian raids. 

At the beginning- of hostilities, in October, 1835, he organ- 
ized a company, was elected Captain and was one of those who 
followed Ben Milam at the storming of Bexar. He was hon- 
orably mentioned in the official report of the battle. He was 
elected one of the delegates from the Municipality of Wash- 
ington to the Constitutional Convention of March, 1836. He 
took an active part in all its deliberations. He did not par- 
ticipate in the battle of San Jacinto, but his oldest son, John 
M. Swisher, was in the campaign. He moved to Austin and 
resided there until his death in 1869. 

WARD. 

This county was named for Thomas William Ward, a na- 
tive of Ireland. He came to the United States and located in 
New Orleans early in life, and was engaged in business there 
in 1835, when the Revolution of 
Texas began. 

He enlisted in a volunteer 
company, afterwards famous as 
the "New Orleans Grays," which 
had its baptism of blood at the 
storming of Bexar in December, 
1835. He lost a leg in this bat- 
tle and afterwards became 
known as 'Teg Leg" Ward. He 
was honorably mentioned for 
gallantry in that engagement. 
He was a man of superior intel- 
ligence. In April, 1841, while 
firing a cannon at the anniversary celebration of the battle of 
San Jacinto, he lost his arm by the explosure of the gun. 

In the fall of that year he was elected Commissioner of the 




136 The History and Geography of Texas 

General Land Office of Texas, and held that office until 1848. 
He was appointed Collector of Customs at Corpus Christi in 
1853, and was appointed United States Consul at Panama by 
President Buchanan in 1857, and served as such until the com- 
mencement of the Civil War in 1861. 

After the close of that war he resumed his residence at Aus- 
tin and died there in 1872. 

THE ALAMO. 

While the storming of Bexar was in progress the Governor 
and Council were in session in San Felipe. The conflict of au- 
thority between the Governor and Council resulted in a confu- 
sion of militarj^ movements. The command of Johnson and 
Grant was at San Patricio; Fannin was in command at Goliad, 
and Travis under orders from the Governor took command of 
the Alamo. He had gathered about him one hundred and fifty 
men when he wrote the Governor that an invading army of 
several thousand Mexicans had already reached the Rio 
Grande, and that San Antonio would be their objective point. 
He urgently called for reinforcements, but the only reinforce- 
ment he received was a company of thirty-two men, on the 23rd 
of February, making his effective force about one hundred and 
eighty-five. On the 24th he issued a proclamation addressed, 
"To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World," in 
which, among other things, he said, "I am besieged by a thous- 
and or more Mexicans, under Santa Anna. The enemy has 
demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise the garrison is 
to be put to the sword if the fort is taken. I have answered 
the command with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves 
proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat." 
On March 6th Santa Anna held a council of war and decided 
to storm the fort. On Sunday, the 6th, the bugle sounded "no 
quarter," and the assault was on ; the Mexicans soon scaled and 
broke through the walls, and in a short time every defender 
of the Alamo lay dead. 

The heroism displayed by Travis and his men has been cele- 
brated in song and story, until the name "Alamo" has become 
the synonym for bravery wherever the English language is 



As Told in County Names 



137 



INSCRIPTION 
,0;j the shaft. 
uorTh front. 



TO THE 

GOD 
OK THE 

FEARLLSS 
AND FRt-h 



DEBICATED 
THIS 

ALTAR 

MADE FROM 

"SHE RUINS 

OF THE 

ALAMO 

MARCH 
6th 
1S36 

A. D. 



INSCRIPTION 

Oil THE 
WEST FROnY. 



BI.OOD OF 

HEROES 

hath 
STAINED ME 

LET THE 

SI ON ES 

OF THE 

ALAMO 

SPI AK 

THAT THEIR 

IMMOLATION 

BF NOT 

FORGO I TEN. 
MARCH 

6TH 

1836 




Crockett 



Bonham. 



INSCRIPTION 

ON THE 
SOUTH FRONT. 



BE THEY 

ENROLLED 

WITH 

L-EONIDAS 

IN THE 

HOST 

OF THE 

MIGHTY 
DEAD. 



MARCH 

6th 

1836 

A. O. 



INSCRIPTION 

ON THE 
EAST FRONT. 

Thermopylao 

HAD HER 

MESSENGER 



DEFEAT, 

BUT THE 

ALAMO 

HAD NONE. 



MARCH 

6th 

1836 




DESTROYED BY FIRE WHEN THE OLD CAPITOL WAS BURNED, 
NOVEMBER, 1881. 

spoken. The names of the heroes are chiseled in the granite 
monument which now stands in the Capitol grounds at Austin, 
Texas. 

Those whose names are on our county map are: 



Bailey 


Cottle 


Floyd 


King 


Bowie 


Crockett 


Kent 


Lynn 


Cochran 


Dickens 


Kimble 


Travis 



We have no data as to the antecedents of Bailey, Dickens, 
Floyd, Lynn and King. 

George W. Cottle, Andrew Kent, and George Kimble were 
heads of families, and left their wives and children to go to 



138 



The History and Geography of Texas 



the relief of Travis on March 1. 
Colony, near Gonzales. 



They had settled in DeWitt's 



BOWIE. 

This county was named for James Bowie. There are two 
accounts as to the birthplace of this remarkable man. One 
account says he was born in Georgia; another ascribes his 

birthplace to Elliott Springs, Tenn., 
and yet another ascribes his birth- 
place to Edgefield, S. C., the date 
of his birth 1785. That South Car- 
olina was his native State seems 
most probable. 

Early in his life the family re- 
moved to Catahoula Parish, La., 
and it was there he was reared and 
educated, both he and his brother, 
Rezin P. Bowie, the inventor of the 
famous Bowie knife. As young 
men they were lured by the temp- 
tations of the slave trade, then go- 
ing on, and in this way they be- 
came acquainted with the pirate 
LaFitte. James Bowie also be- 
came connected with Long's expedition in 1819. In 1828 he 
was naturalized as a Mexican citizen and later married the 
tlaughter of Vice Governor Veremendi at San Antonio. 

His celebrated Indian fight on the road a la Bandera, from 
San Antonio to San Saba, took place in 1831. He was in Nac- 
ogdoches in 1832 and took part in the fight with Piedras, after- 
wards being commissioned to convey the prisoners to San 
Felipe, whence they were taken to Tampico. In 1835 he joined 
the army and was second in command at the battle of Con- 
cepcion. After the storming and capture of Bexar he joined 
the army near Goliad. He there met Houston, who sent him 
back to San Antonio. There he found Travis in command, but 
remained there and was killed March 6, 1836, with the others 
of the garrison. 




As Told in County Names 



139 



COCHRAN. 

This county was named for Robert Cochran, who, in the 
early part of 1835, started from Boston with a small stock of 
goods and located in Brazoria, and early in February, 1836, 
joined the army in San Antonio. He was a single man. The 
only data that could be obtained was from evidence used in 
litigation over the land granted to his heirs, for which the au- 
thor is indebted to R. C. Crane, an attorney at Sweetwater, 
Texas. 

CROCKETT. 



This county was named for David Crockett, who was born 
August 17, 1786, in Tennessee, then a part of North Carolina, 
near the present line between that State and North Carolina. 
His father was an Irishman ; his 
mother was a native of Mary- 
land. He was a most pronounced 
type of the strong individuality 
characteristic of the mountain 
population of East Tennessee in 
his day. He could neither read 
nor write until eighteen years 
old. At the age of seven his 
father removed to Jefferson 
County, Tennessee, and later in 
life moved and settled in Frank- 
lin County Tennessee. He went 
into the Creek War and re- 
mained until its close. Return- 
ing to his home he lived in great 

domestic felicity until the death of his wife in 1821. He mar- 
ried a second time and was equally devoted to his second wife. 
In 1821 he was elected to the Legislature. There he met for 
the first time Colonel (afterward President) Polk, who, it seems, 
having a desire to cultivate Crockett's acquaintance, addressed 
him thus : 




140 The History and Geography of Texas 

Colonel Crockett, I suppose the Legislature will make some 
change in the judiciary?" 

"I suppose so," said Crockett, and got out of the way as soon 
as possible. 

"For," said he afterward, ''I did not know what in the thun- 
der the 'judiciary' was." 

In 1827, 1829 and 1831 he was successively elected to the 
United States Congress. Colonel Bailey Peyton, then a mem- 
ber of the lower house, gave the writer the following account 
of the opening paragraph of his first speech in that body: 

"Mr. Speaker, I am skeered, but I don't know what about; 
I know I can lick any man in this house, and I ain't afeared of 
none of 'em; still I'm skeered." 

He afterwards made a tour of the principal cities of the 
North, where he was the object of much attention, as a repre- 
sentative of the hardy frontiersmen of the Southwest. As was 
the case with many frontiersmen of that day, he was an ex- 
pert with his rifle; was a great hunter and was often called 
upon by duelists for instructions in marksmanship. In his 
fourth canvass for Congress he was defeated by a small ma- 
jority through the influence of the Jackson Democracy. Cha- 
grined over his defeat, and disgusted with political conditions 
in Tennessee, he picked up his trusty rifle, bade farewell to his 
family and came to Texas; took the oath of allegiance at Nac- 
ogdoches and hurried on to the theater of war. He arrived 
at San Antonio too late to take part in the battle of Concepcion 
and the storming of Bexar, but joined the forces of Travis in 
the Alamo, and March 6, 1836, yielded up his life. He left a 
most interesting autobiography. 

TRAVIS. 

William Barrett Travis was born in Edgefield District, South 
Carolina, August 1, 1809. The place of his birth was near old 
Red Banks Baptist Church, and in what is now Saluda County. 
A postoffice at this place has been named Travis. His paternal 
and maternal ancestors were among the earliest settlers of that 
region. His grandparents were Barrett and Elizabeth de Loach 



As Told in County Names 141 

Travis, and resided in Chester District during the revolution, 
where Barrett Travis died. The widow, with her four chil- 
dren, moved to Abbeville District and Mark, the father of Wil- 
liam Barrett, moved to Edgefield and married Jemima Stalls- 
worth, the mother of William Barrett, 

William Barrett was the oldest of eleven children. The pa- 
rents moved to Conecuh County, Alabama, when William Bar- 
rett was about six years old, settling on a farm about six miles 
above Evergreen, the county site, and young Travis was reared 
there. An uncle, a Baptist minister, had previously moved 
there, as did also one of the Stallsworth families, and one of 
the Stallsworths represented that district in the United States 
Congress about 1822. 

After attending the schools of the neighborhood, William 
Barrett was sent to the academy of Prof. McCurdy, in Monroe 
County, a school of considerable reputation in its day. 

After attending this school he obtained employment to teach 
school near Monroeville, county site of Monroe County, and 
while thus engaged studied law under Dillett and Parsons. In 
the meantime he became infatuated with Lucinda Cato, one of 
his pupils, and was married to her. He then obtained a license 
and began to practice law, but both c;oon found that they were 
not suited to each other and they separated. Travis came to 
Texas, leaving her and their two children in Alabama. Arriving 
in Texas he located at Anahuac and began the practice of law in 
the winter of 1831-2. It was during the administration of the 
tyrant Bustamente, under whose orders Bradburn had been sta- 
tioned at Anahuac in command of a company of soldier-con- 
victs, with the ostensible purpose of enforcing the collection of 
duties on imports. 

Patrick C. Jack, a young lawyer, was also a practicing law- 
yer there at that time. They, with other citizens, were ar- 
rested and thrown into prison. There are several accounts of 
the circumstances leading to their arrest. One (Texas Alman- 
ac, 1859, page 32) is to the effect that an anonymous letter to 
Bradburn telling him that a company of one hundred men was 
being organized on the Sabine to cross the river and forcibly 
take the runaway slaves he had refused to deliver up to the 



142 The History and Geography of Texas 

owners. He investigated, but found no basis for the rumor. 
Supposing Travis, Jack and others anxious to incite the Tex- 
ans to a revolt, and of playing a trick on him, he had them ar- 
rested. 

Another account (Filisola) says: "Early in May, 1832, some 
of Bradburn's soldiers made an attack upon a woman and that 
an American being in the neighborhood failed to respond to 
her cries or come to her assistance, that Bradburn was called 
upon to punish the culprit, and upon his refusal, they formed 
a mob, seized the American, tarred and feathered him and 
drove him through the town with a great noise. 

Another account (Yoakum) says: "On one occasion a soldier 
having committed an outrage, the indignant citizens arrested 
him and inflicted severe punishment upon him. That Bradburn 
was harboring runaway slaves from both Texas and Louisiana 
there seems to be little doubt. This, with the infamies of his 
convict soldiers, was a constant source of irritation. Travis, 
Jack and other prisoners were released later after Bustamente 
was overthrown by Santa Anna. Both Travis and Jack then 
removed to San Felipe, where they became prominent lawyers. 
Santa Anna soon threw off his republican mask, and early in 
1835 another Mexican officer, Tenorio, in charge of a com- 
pany, was stationed at Anahuac. His company was also made 
up of convicts. Smarting under past outrages, Travis organ- 
ized a company and captured Tenorio and his command, but 
his act was disapproved by the authorities at San Felipe and 
Tenorio was released. For this he was ordered to be arrested 
by the Mexican authorities, but he was never arrested. 

Events were now rapidly leading up to the revolution of 
Texas against Mexico, and Travis was one of the first to join 
the army. He was in the campaign from Gonzales up to the 
capture of Bexar on detached service, and made some captures 
from the Mexicans which were of great service to the Texans. 
After the capture of Bexar he was detached on scouting ser- 
vice, but in January, 1836, was ordered to take command of 
the Alamo. Getting news that Santa Anna was on his way to 
Texas with a large army he began to appeal for reinforce- 
ments, there being at that time only one hundred and fifty men 



As Told in County Names 



143 



at the Alamo. He dispatched J. B. Bonham and two others to 
Fannin at GoHad. The siege of the Alamo, according to Travis' 
own statement began on the 23rd of February and continued 
the 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th of February, and 1st, 
2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th of March, and on the 6th of March the 
fortress was stormed and every man put to the sword. 

GOLIAD. 



Fannin, in command of about 
four hundred men, found him- 
self almost surrounded by a 
large force of Mexicans under 
the command of the Mexican 
General, Urrea, on the 18th of 
March, and began his retreat to 
Victoria, but was overtaken near 
Colito Creek, about nine miles 
east of Goliad, and a hotly con- 
tested battle took place. On the 
morning of the 19th a white flag 
was raised and Fannin surren- 
dered. The prisoners were 
marched back to Goliad. In the 
meantime the command of Ma- 
jor Ward was brought in as 
prisoners and on the 27th of 
March all who were able to 
walk, except about a dozen, were 
marched out and shot. 

Of those participating in the 
struggle at Colito on the 19th, 
our county map shows the fol- 
lowing : 

Callahan Haskell 

Duval Shackelford 

Fannin 




Alonument lo rSmnirx 
and hi^ Alen, GoJIad.Tex, 



144 The History and Geography of Texas 



CALLAHAN. 

This county was named for James H. Callahan, who was 
born near Marion, Ga., in 1812; came to Texas with the Geor- 
gia Battalion in December, 1835 ; was taken prisoner of war 
with Fannin's men at Colito and carried back to Goliad, but 
his life was spared, as he was a mechanic, and it was thought 
by the Mexicans that his services as such might be utilized 
by them. After his release he joined the Ranger force and 
became a Captain of the Rangers. In 1856 he became involved 
in a personal difficulty in Guadalupe County and was killed. 

DUVAL. 

This county was named for Captain Burr H. Duval, who was 
massacred with Fannin's command at Goliad, March 27, 1836. 
He came from a distinguished Kentucky family, his father 
having been a Representative in the United States Congress 
from 1813 to 1815, and having previously served as Captain 
of mounted volunteers in the War of 1812. In 1822 he was 
appointed Provisional Governor of Florida. 

Burr H. Duval, the subject of this sketch, was born in Nel- 
son County, Kentucky, in 1809, and educated at St. Joseph's 
College, at Bardstown. Late in the year of 1835 he gathered 
a company of volunteers and took passage down the river to 
New Orleans, and from there sailed first to Quintana, at the 
mouth of the Brazos, where the company formally organized. 
The company proceeded from there by water to Copano, from 
which place they marched first to Refugio and then to Goliad. 
There they joined Fannin's command, where, after the sur- 
render, he was cruelly murdered on the 27th day of March, 
1836. 

FANNIN. 

James Walker Fannin was born in Georgia in 1805. He 
was left an orphan at a tender age and was taken in charge 
by an uncle, James Walker, and under this name registered 
as a cadet at West Point Military Academy. He was for a 



As Told in County Names 145 

short time after he left there in the United States Army, but 
resigned and returned to Georgia. He retained his uncle's name 
and added to it the family name, becoming James Walker Fan- 
nin. In 1834 he came to Texas and engaged in planting on 
the Brazos. As soon as the war broke out at Gonzales he or- 
ganized the Brazos Guards and hastened to the west. It was 
Fannin's company and a few others who were sent forward 
to select a suitable camping ground for the army near San 
Antonio, and which fought the battle of Concepcion, in which 
fight Fannin won the title of "The Hero of Concepcion." When 
the army was reorganized after Austin's resignation as com- 
mander-in-chief, Fannin was sent East to enlist and procure 
ammunition. The Council at San Felipe, contrary to Hous- 
ton's orders, ordered him to collect forces at Copano for a de- 
scent upon Matamoros. In January, 1836, he announced that 
an expedition had been ordered by the Council to Matamoros, 
and ordered all volunteers to report at San Patricio. The Civil 
Government at San Felipe was in confusion, with General Hous- 
ton recognizing the authority of Governor Smith, and Fannin 
recognizing the authority of the Council. Fannin arrived at 
Goliad about the 1st of February and the troops were organ- 
ized there, with Fannin as Colonel and Ward as Lieutenant 
Colonel. After several intervening contests with the Mexican 
Army he collected what troops he could (about 400 men) at 
Goliad and prepared for defense, but learning that there was 
a large force of the enemy near he evacuated the town. After 
stopping at a small creek nine miles east of Goliad to give the 
teams an opportunity to graze, he resumed his march, and when 
within two miles of Colita was overtaken by the Mexican cav- 
alry. Colonel Fannin was wounded in the fight. A white flag* 
was raised in the morning. The accounts of what occurred 
are contradictory, some to the effect that terms were agreed 
upon, providing for the safety of Fannin's army, others that 
the surrender was unconditional, but all agreeing that there 
was a surrender. It matters not what the real facts may be, 
the horrors of the cruelty of the massacre that followed are in 
nowise mitigated. Fannin's troops were then marched back 
to Goliad and shot on March 27th. 

10 



146 The History and Geography of Texas 



HASKELL. 

This county was named for Charles Ready Haskell, who was 
born near Nashville, Tenn., September 12, 1817. He was the 
son of Joshua Haskell and was attending school when the 
company of Captain Burr H. Duval was organized in Kentucky. 
He joined the company on its way down the Mississippi and 
followed its fortunes to that fateful Sunday, March 27, 1836, 
when he with his entire command was murdered. 

SHACKLEFORD. 

This county was named for Dr. John (Jack) Shackleford, 
who was born in Richmond, Virginia, March 20, 1790. His 
father, Richard Shackleford, was married three times, his last 
wife being the mother of the subject of this sketch. Upon 
arriving at the age of twenty-one he left Virginia to seek a 
new home. He located in Winnsboro, S. C. where he married 
Miss Maria Young, daughter of a Presbyterian minister, and 
practiced his profession as physician and surgeon. He serv- 
ed for a time in the war of 1812-1815, and in 1818 moved to 
Shelby County, Alabama, where he was a successful practi- 
tioner accumulating considerable land and slaves and engag- 
ing in planting. In 1822-3-4, he was elected to the State Sen- 
ate from Bibb and Shelby Counties, and being a man of large 
means, lived and entertained sumptuously. Becoming surety 
for a cousin who engaged in merchandising, and afterward 
failed, Dr. Shackleford, was compelled to sell his lands and 
slaves to satisfy the debt. In 1829 he was appointed receiver 
of the Land Office at Courtland, Ala. In the late fall of 1835, 
when he learned that the revolution in Texas had begun, he 
organized a military company, composed of the best young 
men in that section, among whom were his oldest son, and two 
of his nephews. The company was armed and equipped at 
private expense, and being uniformed in red jeans, was called 
the "Red Rovers." Commanding the company as Captain, 
Shackleford carried it down to New Orleans and from there 
by water around to the coast of Texas, landing on the shores 



As Told in County Names 147 

of Copano Bay. After a short campaign, the company was 
surrendered as part of Fannin's command, and after surrender 
were murdered by the Mexicans. Dr. Shackleford himself was 
spared in order that the Mexicans might utihze his services 
as a physician and surgeon among their sick and wounded. 
He managed to make his escape in the following June, and as 
the result of the Battle of San Jacinto rendered his further 
services unnecessary, he hastened back to his home in Ala- 
bama to carry the news of the Goliad massacre to the parents 
and friends of the young men murdered. He remained in Ala- 
bama and practiced medicine. His wife died in 1854, and he 
married a second time. He died on the 22nd of January, 1857. 
His widow survived him many years. The pathetic welcome 
he received upon his return home is most graphically pictured 
in Foote's Texas and Texans, Mr. Foote having been an eye 

witness. 

* * * 

As an indication of the profound sensation created in the 
United States by the massacre at Goliad, the following quota- 
tion is taken from a speech made by Hon. Thomas H. Benton 
in the United States Senate in 1836: "Goliad has torn Texas 
from Mexico; Goliad has decreed independence; San Jacinto 
has sealed it! What the massacre decreed, the victory has 
sealed; and the day of the martyrdom of prisoners must for- 
ever be regarded as the day of disunion between Texas and 
Mexico. ********** 

"Unhappy day, forever to be deplored, that Sunday morning, 
March 6, 1836, when the undaunted garrison of the Alamo, 
victorious in so many assaults over twenty times their num- 
ber perished to the last man by the hands of those, part of whom 
they had released on parole two months before, leaving not one 
to tell how they first dealt out to multitudes that death which 
they themselves finally received. Unhappy day, that Palm 
Sunday, March 27, when the five hundred and twelve prisoners 
at Goliad, issuing from the sally port at the dawn of day, one 
by one, under the cruel delusion of a return to their families, 
found themselves enveloped in double files of cavalry and in- 
fantry, marched to a spot fit for the perpetuation of the hor- 



148 The History and Geography of Texas 

rid deed — and there without an instant to think of parents, 
country, friends, and God — in the midst of the consternation 
of terror and surprise, were inhumanly set upon, and pitiless- 
ly put to death, in spite of those moving cries which reached 
to heaven and regardless of those supplicating hands, stretched 
forth for mercy, from which arms had been taken under the 
perfidious forms of a capitulation. Five hundred and six per- 
ished that morning — young, vigorous, brave, sons of respect- 
able families, and the pride of many a parent's heart — and their 
bleeding bodies, torn with wounds, and many yet alive, were 
thrown in heaps upon vast fires, for the flames to consume 
what the steel had mangled. Six only escaped, and not by 
mercy, but by miracles. And this was the work of man upon 
his brother; of Christian upon Christian; of those upon those 
who adore the same God, invoke the same heavenly benedic- 
tion, and draw precepts of charity and mercy from the same 
divine fountain. Accursed be the ground on which the dread- 
ful deed was done! Sterile, and set apart, let it for ever be! 
No fruitful cultivation should ever enrich it; no joyful edi- 
fice should ever adorn it; but shut up, and closed by gloomy 
walls, the mournful cypress, the weeping willow, and the in- 
scriptive monument, should for ever attest the foul deed of 
which it was the scene, and invoke from every passer-by the 
throb of pity for the slain, and the start of horror for the 
slayer." 

THE BATTLE OF SAN JACINTO. 

The convention which was in session at Washington on the 
Brazos elected Sam Houston as commander-in-chief of the 
army on the 5th of March. He was then a member of the con- 
vention but left it the next day and hastened to the relief of 
Travis. On the 13th, he learned of the fall of the Alamo and 
the destruction of its garrison and stopped at Gonzales where 
he organized such forces as he could collect. He took steps to aid 
the fleeing settlers and on the 5th of April learned of the mas- 
sacre at Goliad. He also reached San Felipe on that day, and 
from there marched up the Brazos and encamped nearly two 
weeks in the bottom. On the 13th of April, he crossed the 



150 



The History and Geography of Texas 



Brazos and continued his march reaching Harrisburg on the 
18th of April. Going down Buffalo Bayou, one wing of his 
army encountered the ^Mexicans, but withdrew and encamp- 
ed for the night. On the 21st in command of seven hundred 
and eighty-three men he attacked Santa Anna's forces, his 
army rushing into the fray with the battle cry "Remember the 
Alamo; Remember Goliad," and after eighteen minutes of 
stout resistance by the ^Mexicans, they were thrown into con- 
fusion and panic, and the slaughter began. The result was 
the killing of six hundred and thirty Mexicans, wounding two 
hundred and eight, and capturing seven hundred and thirty 
prisoners, among whom was Santa Anna, himself. 

Among the participants whose names are on our county 
map are : 



Briscoe 


Deaf Smith 


Hockley 


McCulloch 


Burleson 


Eastland 


Houston 


Motley 


Cooke 


Erath 


Kleberg 


Sherman 


Dawson 


Hale 


Lamb 






BRISCOE. 





This county was named for Andrew Briscoe, who com- 
manded Company A of the regulars at San Jacinto. He was of 
English descent; was born November 25, 1810, and reared on 

the family plantation in Clai- 
borne County, Mississippi. He 
was educated at Clinton Academj' 
in Hinds County, and attended 
Franklin University in Kentucky, 
and later studied law under Gen. 
John A. Quitman, at Jackson, Miss. 
Early in 1835 he shipped a stock of 
goods to Anahuac, Texas, and re- 
sisted the collection of duties. For 
this he was thrown into prison, but 
was released by W. B. Travis and his volunteer company. For 
a most interesting detail of this occurence see Vol. XVHI 
Southwestern HistoriccI Quarterly. In the fall of that j^ear he 




As Told in County Names 



151 



was Captain of the Liberty Volunteers at Concepcion, and was 
at the storming and capture of Bexar December 5, 1835, and 
later at the battle of San Jacinto, as mentioned above. After- 
wards he was Chief Justice of (Harrisburg) Harris County 
and upon retiring from this office he gave his time to the promo- 
tion of a railroad from Harrisburg to the Brazos River, and 
this survey was later adopted by the line which is a part of 
the Southern Pacific Railroad system. After a mile or two 
of road had been graded and the ties placed, the enterprise 
was abandoned in 1840 as being premature. 

In the interim he had married a daughter of John R. Harris, 
and removed to New Orleans, where he engaged in a banking, 
brokerage and exchange business. He died there October 4, 1849, 
and his remains were sent to the old family burying ground on 
the plantation in Claiborne County, Mississippi, and buried. 

BURLESON. 



This county was named for General Edward Burleson, Col- 
onel of the First Regiment of Volunteers at the battle of San 
Jacinto. He was born in North Carolina in 1798, and when 
a mere lad went with his father into 
the Creek War, acting as his secretary, 
and thus received his first military les- 
son under the leadership of General 
Jackson. The family moved to Vir- 
ginia, where he was elected Lieutenant 
and Colonel of militia. He next remov- 
ed to Tennessee and was there elected 
Colonel of militia. In 1831 he came 
to Texas and settled in what is now 
Bastrop County, then on the extreme 
frontier, and was soon called upon to 

lead his neighbors against marauding Indians. At Gonzales, 
when Stephen F. Austin became commander of the forces there, 
Burleson was elected Colonel of the only regiment then organiz- 
ed. When Austin resigned Burleson was elected Commander- 
in-chief, and was holding this position when Bexar was cap- 




152 The History and Geography of Texas 

tured. At the reorganization of the army in 1836 he was elect- 
ed Colonel of the first regiment. In 1837 he was elected Brig- 
iadier General of the militia, and in 1838 was appointed Col- 
onel in the regular army. In 1841 he was elected Vice Presi- 
dent of the Republic. In 1842, when it was deemed advisable 
to invade the border states of Mexico, he was the general choice 
of the troops for the position of Commander, but President 
Houston appointed Alexander Somervell to the position. In 
1843 he was a candidate for the Presidency, but was defeated 
by Anson Jones. In 1846 he served on the staff of General 
Henderson. After his return to Texas he located his home 
at the beautiful spring which forms the San Marcos River. 
He was elected to the State Senate and was unanimously 
chosen president of that body. He died in the city of Austin, 
December 26, 1851. A detailed biography of General Burleson 
would embrace a substantial history of Indian warfare in Tex- 
as from 1831 to his death. A contemporary expresses the 
opinion that he rendered a larger military service to the State 
than any other man among the numerous fighters of that per- 
iod in our history. 



As Told in County Names 



153 



COOKE. 



W. G. Cooke was born in Fredericksburg, Va., March 26, 
1808, where he was reared and educated. He removed to New 
Orleans and was in business there in October, 1835. When 
volunteers for Texas were call- 
ed for, he immediately stepped ^ 
forward and enrolled his name. 
Upon their arrival at San An- 
tonio he was elected Captain of 
the "New Orleans Grays," fol- 
lowed Ben Milam into San An- 
tonio and led his company in 
the forefront at the storming 
of Bexar. Later he was on the 
staff of General Houston and 
was with him at the battle of 
San Jacinto, being appointed as- 
sistant Inspector General in that 
battle with the rank of Major. 
After the battle he accompanied 
General Houston to New Or- 
leans and returned with him to 
Texas. He remained with the army until 1837, when he set- 
tled in Houston and established a drug store. In 1839 he was 
appointed Quarter-master General of the army by President 
Lamar; on March 19, 1840, was in the Blockhouse fight 
with the Comanches and in May, 1841, was appointed one of 
the commissioners to accompany the Santa Fe Expedition. 
He was made a prisoner and carried to Mexico, but he was 
released in 1842 and returned to Texas. In 1844 he was mar- 
ried to Angele Navarro, a niece of Juan Antonio Navarro, in 
San Antonio, Texas. When the State Government was or- 
ganized, in 1846 he was appointed Adjutant General. In De- 
cember 1847, he died at Seguin, Texas. 




154 The History and Geography of Texas 



DAWSON. 

Nicholas Mosby Dawson was born in Woodford County, Ken- 
tucky, in 1808. His parents removed to White County, Tennes- 
see, where he was educated. In 1834 he came to Texas and 
located near his kinsman, W. M. Eastland, in what is now Fay- 
ette County. When news of Santa Anna's invasion reached 
his vicinity, he volunteered and was elected Second Lieutenant 
of Company B of the volunteers and participated in the battle 
of San Jacinto. A short time after the battle he quit the army 
and resumed business. He was residing in Fayette County in 
1842 when Woll made his raid into Texas and captured San 
Antonio. As soon as the news reached LaGrange, he organized 
a company and hastened to the front. On the day of the bat- 
tle of Salado, while trying to lead his men into the Texans' 
camp, he was surrounded by an overwhelming force of Mex- 
icans. When about half of his men had been killed, he raised 
the white flag. It was fired upon and the fight renewed. He 
finally surrendered his pistol to a Mexican officer. He was 
then siezed by the Mexican soldiers and put to death. There 
were fifty-three men in his company; thirty-three were slain 
in battle, fifteen surrendered, five of whom were wounded, 
and two made their escape. 



As Told in County Names 



155 



DEAF SMITH. 



The name of this eccentric man, was Erastus Smith. He 
came to be known as "Deaf Smith" by reason of his being 
partially deaf. 

He was born in New York 
State, April 19, 1787, and in 
1798 moved with his parents to 
the territory of Mississippi and 
settled near Natchez. His par- 
ents were pious Baptists, and 
reared him with the best in- 
fluences, moral and intellectual, 
which the then wild and sparse- 
ly settled condition of the coun- 
try afforded. 

In 1817, he wandered away 
from home, and came to Texas 
alone, but remained only a short 
time. Four years later he again 
came to Texas, making his head- 
quarters in and around San An- 
tonio. He spent most of his 
time rambling alone in that sec- 
tion of Texas. 

When DeWitt's colony was first established, he identified 
himself with it, and finally married a Mexican lady in San An- 
tonio. He inherited valuable land, in Claiborne County, Miss- 
issippi, but paid no attention to it, and died a poor man. 

Before the Texas Revolution began, by his lonely wander- 
ings, he acquired such a knowledge of the country, as few pos- 
sessed, but at the breaking out of the revolution it was feared 
by reason of his Mexican marriage that his loyalty to Texas 
was a matter of uncertainty. This however, proved a mis- 
take, and he joined the forces of Austin, among the first, at 
Gonzales. 

He was detailed on scout duty, for which he was peculiarly 




156 The History and Geography of Texas 

fitted, and performed invaluable services, prior to the storm- 
ing- of Bexar, by which time he had become known to all the 
army. He was in the first fight at Concepcion, in the storm- 
ing- of Bexar, and marched at the head of Johnson's command, 
as the Texans made their way into the city, and while on top 
of the Veramendi house was wounded. 

Upon the reorganization of the army under Houston, in 
March, 1836, he was put in command of scouts, and or- 
dered to report the movements of the Mexican army, and aid 
the fleeing families, and rendered valuable services. His re- 
markable efficiency and reliability made him a special favorite 
of Gen. Houston's. 

When near Harrisburg, on the San Jacinto campaign, he cap- 
tured a courier with important dispatches to Santa Anna, and 
from these he learned that Santa Anna was near the mouth of 
Buffalo Bayou. 

On the morning of the 21st of April he was detailed by Gen. 
Houston to destroy Vince's bridge, which he promptly did, and 
on the afternoon of the same day, went into the fight, with a 
dash and intrepidity that won for him, universal praise from 
the army. 

Two or three days after the battle, he was given important 
orders from Santa Anna to Gen. Filisola to retreat. Later 
on he was made Captain of the rangers and after one or two 
small engagements, he retired from the army and located in 
Richmond, Fort Bend County, where he died, November 30, 
1837, and was buried there. A modest monument, in the corner 
of the Episcopal Church yard, marks the spot where he was 
buried. It has the inscription, "Deaf Smith, The Texas Spy, 
died November 30, 1837." 

EASTLAND. 

Thomas B. Eastland was a lieutenant in the United States 
army and in 1800 was quarter-master general for Kentucky. 
In the War of 1812, he served with distinction under General 
Harrison. In 1801, he married Nancy Mosby and had five 
sons and one daughter. William M. Eastland, the son, in whose 



As Told in County Names 157 

honor Eastland County was named, was born at Woodfarm, 
Woodford County, Kentucky, March 21, 1806, and was a cousin 
of Colonel J. S. Mosby, the famous scout and cavalry leader 
in the Civil War. In early life the family moved to Tennessee 
and in 1834 he, with two of his brothers and Nicholas Mosby 
Dawson, came to Texas and located near LaGrange and en- 
gaged in the sawmill and lumber business, and as was the case 
with practically every other citizen on the frontier, he was fre- 
quently called on to repel the Indians. At the breaking out of the 
Texas Revolution he promptly volunteered and was elected first 
Lieutenant of a company, afterward Company F of Burleson's 
regiment, and acted in this capacity at the battle of San Ja- 
cinto. 

After this, the last battle of the Revolution, he returned home 
and resumed business. His wife died in 1837, and two years 
later he was married to Louise M. Smith, daughter of Rev. W. B. 
Smith, a Methodist minister. When Texas was invaded by 
General Woll in 1842, he organized a company at LaGrange 
and marched to San Antonio, but arrived too late to participate 
in the battle which took place between Texans and the Mexi- 
cans. The Somervell Expedition was then organized and East- 
land's company joined it. Upon reaching the Rio Grande, he 
took his command across and was in the battle of Mier, where 
the Texans surrendered December 26, 1842. While on their 
way to prison, upon arriving at the hacienda of Salado, they 
rushed upon their guards and escaped, but while in search 
of water they came to a camp of Mexican soldiers too numer- 
ous to contend against, and surrendered. They were taken 
back to Salado, and informed that they were to be shot, but 
by the intervention of General Mexia the order was changed 
so that one man in ten should be shot, and they were to draw 
by lot to determine which one of the ten should be shot. One 
hundred and fifty-nine white beans were placed in the bottom 
of an earthen jug and seventeen black ones upon top of them. 
The jug was not shaken. Captain Eastland drew the first black 
bean, and they continued until the last black bean was drawn. 
Soon afterward the ill fated men were marched into a separate 
courtyard and shot, March 25, 1843. "Green's Mier Expedi- 



158 The History and Geography of Texas 

tion" gives, in graphic detail, the horrible sufferings and cruel- 
ties of these occurences. In 1848 the bones of the murdered 
mer. were exhumed and taken to LaGrange and buried, and a 
monument erected over them. 

ERATH. 

This county was named for George B. Erath, member of 
Company C, First Regiment of Volunteers. He was born at 
Vienna, Austria, on January 1, 1813, and was educated at Santa 
Ana College and the Polytechnic Institute 
of that city. He came to the United 
States, landing at New Orleans July 18, 
1832, and after traveling through the 
Western States, arrived in Texas and 
came to San Felipe. In 1834, he hired 
himself to Alexander Thomson as a chain 
carrier in surveying land in Robertson's 
Colony, and was soon promoted to the 
position of surveyor. In July, 1835, he 
went into the war against the Indians, 
and later he joined the company of Jesse 
Billingsly and fought as a private at San Jacinto. He after- 
wards joined Hill's company of Rangers and in 1838 was made 
lieutenant and given a separate command. In all of these 
commands he saw much hard service and engaged in many 
Indian fights. In 1838 he formed a company of surveyors, but 
the Indians were so troublesome that they were forced to do 
more fighting than surveying. In 1839 he was elected Captain of 
a Ranger Company. In 1841 he was made Captain of a company 
of minute men. At intervals, during the time, he surveyed land 
to replenish his finances, as the Republic was too poor to equip 
him and pay his expenses. In 1842 he joined the Somervell Ex- 
pedition. After his return home he was elected to the Lower 
house of the Texas Congress in 1843, was re-elected in 1844 
and 1845. He was elected to the First Legislature in 1846, and 
in 1848 he was elected to the State Senate. In 1849 he sur- 
veyed and planned the city of Waco. He was appointed major 




As Told in County Names 159 

of frontier forces in 1861 and in 1862-3 again became a mem- 
ber of the Legislature. In 1873 he was elected State Senator 
and served in that capacity until the reorganization of the 
State Government under the Constitution of 1876. This was 
his last public service. He died at Waco, Texas, May 13, 1891, 
at the age of seventy-eight. 

HALE. 

This county was named for Lieutenant John C. Hale, killed 
at the battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 183B. From proof on file 
in the General Land Office of Texas, it is learned that John C. 
Hale came to Texas from Louisiana in 1834 and settled in what 
is now Sabine County with his family. At the organization 
of the company of Captain Benjamin Bryant, he was chosen 
First Lieutenant. From H. W. B. Price, a member of the same 
company, it was learned that as soon as this company was or- 
ganized, it was hurried forward to meet General Houston's 
army, and met the command as it was crossing the Brazos. The 
company was promptly assigned a place, and marched with the 
army to San Jacinto. Only twenty men of the company par- 
ticipated in the battle, the remainder being detailed to nurse 
the sick and guard the baggage. 

HOCKLEY. 

This county was named for George W. Hockley, who was 
born in Philadelphia and reared and educated in that city. In 
early manhood he moved to Washington City and was for a 
time in the employ of the Government. It was here that he 
first met General Houston, and it was probably through the 
latter's influence that Hockley went to Tennessee about the 
year 1828. Nothing has been learned of his career in Tennes- 
see. In 1835 he came to Texas, joined the army in 1836, and 
was appointed inspector general in the San Jacinto campaign. 
He commanded the artillery at San Jacinto. He was appoint- 
•ed Secretary of War in General Houston's second term. In 
1843 he was sent by President Houston to Mexico to negotiate 



160 



The History and Geography of Texas 



a peace. There is no evidence that he was in the Mexican War, 
1846-7. He seems to have retired from public life after an- 
nexation. He died in Corpus Christi at the home of his kins- 
man, H. L. Kinney, on June 6, 1851, and his remains were buried 
in the cemetery established during General Taylor's occupancy 
in 1845-6. 

HOUSTON. 




This county was named for Sam Houston, the central figure 
in the history of the Republic of Texas; he was born in Rock- 
bridge County, Va., March 2, 1793. When he was quite young, 

his widowed mother removed with her 
family to east Tennessee, at that time 
the western limit of civilization. There 
he spent his time alternately at school 
and at work on the farm or in a store as 
a clerk. At one time he left home and 
spent some time among the Cherokee 
Indians. In 1813 he enlisted as a sol- 
dier in the Creek War, and distinguish- 
ed himself at the battle of the Horse 
Shoe, where he was promoted for gal- 
lantry. He was appointed Indian agent in 1817, resigned and 
studied law, and in 1819 was made District Attorney of David- 
son County and Major General of the militia. He began the 
study of law in Nashville, and after holding several minor of- 
fices in Tennessee, was, in 1823, elected to the lower house of 
the United States Congress ; he was re-elected in 1825 and serv- 
ed until 1827. He was elected Governor of Tennessee in 1827 
and shortly after his entering upon the duties of the office he 
resigned and took up his abode among the Cherokee Indians 
in Arkansas. In 1832, it seems that he was sent on a mis- 
sion to some of the Indian tribes in Texas, and shortly after 
his return to Arkansas, he came to settle permanently in Texas. 
In 1833 he was elected a member of the convention for separ- 
ate statehood. In 1834 he was instrumental in defeating a pro- 
ject to introduce Creek Indians into Texas. In 1835 he was 



As Told in County Names 161 

elected delegate to the General Consultation, but regarded separ- 
ation from Mexico as premature. Upon the organization of 
the provisional government, in November, 1835, he was appoint- 
ed commander of the forces in the field. He was elected a 
delegate to the constitutional convention, which assembled 
March 1, and on the 7th he was appointed commander-in-chief 
of all the military forces of Texas. He immediately repaired 
to Gonzales, and learning of the fall of the Alamo and the mas- 
sacre of Goliad, he organized a small force at Gonzales, and 
began a retreat eastwardly and finally brought the war to a 
successful close at San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. In October, 
1836, he was inaugurated first Constitutional President of the 
Republic of Texas. After his term expired, he was elected to 
the Congress of Texas two successive terms. He was again 
elected President in 1841 and in 1846 he became one of the 
United States Senators from Texas, which office he held until 
his election as Governor of the State, in 1859. He was Gov- 
ernor when the State seceded, but being opposed to secession, 
would not forswear his allegiance to the United States and 
abandoned the office in the spring of 1861 and retired to his 
home in Huntsville, Texas, where he died July 25, 1863. His 
fame became world-wide and his memory is cherished by the 
people of Texas. 



162 



The History and Geography of Texas 



KLEBERG. 



-^> 





Robert Kleberg, in whose honor this county was named, was 
born September 10, 1803, in Herstelle, Westphalia, Germany. 
He received a collegiate education at the Gymnasium of Holz- 
minden, and then entered the Univer- 
sity at Goettingen, and received the 

degree of doctor juris. 

After serving in several judicial po- 
sitions, he became dissatisfied with the 
military and administrative despotism 
prevalent there and decided to emigrate 
to America in 1834, To use his own 
words, "I wished to live under a re- 
publican form of government, with un- 
bounded personal, religious, and politi- 
cal liberty." Prussia smarted at that 
time under an offensive military des- 
potism. On September 24, 1834, he was married to Miss 
Rosalie von Roeder, daughter of a former officer in the army, 
and she too wished to emigrate to Texas. Some of the un- 
married brothers of his wife and one of her unmarried sisters, 
well provided with money, clothing, tools, farming implements 
and other things necessary to commence a settlement, left in 
advance of the others. The remainder of the family started 
six months later. In the party were Robert Kleberg and his 
wife, his father-in-law and his family and several others des- 
tined for San Felipe de Austin. At New Orleans they char- 
tered the steamer Sabine and sailed for Brazoria, Texas, and 
after a voyage of eight days on the Gulf were wrecked on Gal- 
veston Island, about ten miles west of the present city of 
Galveston. The island was then a wilderness, inhabited only 
by deer, wolves, rattlesnakes and Indians. Several days after 
the vessel was beached, the steamer Ocean came in sight and 
seeing their distress signal, anchored near their camp and 
agreed to take a few of the company to Brazoria, among whom 
was Kleberg. 



As Told in County Names 163 

Upon their arrival there they found no boats or others means 
of transportation, and Kleberg and one of the von Roeders went 
on foot to San Felipe, where they met Captain Moseley Baker 
and others and were informed that their advance party had 
located about fourteen miles southwest beyond some springs 
which formed the head of a small stream emptying into the 
San Bernard River, but that two of his brother-in-laws had 
died and the others were in a small hut and in a pitiable con- 
dition. Emaciated by disease and exposure the settlers shed 
tears of joy upon their arrival. 

After a few days of rest, Kleberg and his companion, char- 
tered a boat to bring their company from Galveston Island. 
They found the party in good spirits, and after a stormy voy- 
age brought them up to Harrisburg, where he engaged com- 
fortable quarters for the family. 

Leaving the women and children at Harrisburg, the men 
with wagons drawn by oxen and loaded with their tools, sup- 
plies, etc., proceeded to their little settlement and began work, 
erecting two log houses, ceiling one with oak planks sawed 
by hand and put ten acres in corn and cotton. They brought 
their families from Harrisburg, leaving their furniture, among 
other things a fine piano, valuable oil paintings, music, books, 
etc., all of which were destroyed in the following April by 
Santa Anna's army when Harrisburg was burned. 

As soon as the news of the fall of the Alamo reached San 
Felipe and the families of settlers were fleeing to avoid the 
inhuman cruelties of Mexican vengeance, the Von Roeders and 
Kleberg and his wife packed up what they could carry in ox 
carts and went to San Felipe to decide upon a definite pro- 
gram. 

The crucial moment of Kleberg's life had now come. Should 
he leave his young wife and tender infant to work their way 
out of the country, or should he go with her to a place of safe- 
ty beyond the Sabine ? There was little time to consider the mat- 
ter. Finally it was agreed that his father-in-law, the elder Van 
Roeder, should take charge of the family, and that Robert 
Kleberg and young Von Roeder should join Moseley Baker's 



164 The History and Geography of Texas 

company, then forming, and stake their lives for the inde- 
pendence of Texas. 

From that time on they were actively engaged in Houston's 
campaign, finally participating in the battle of San Jacinto. 
The only other service in which these men engaged in that year 
was in Rusk's command, following the Mexican army to insure 
its retreat beyond Rio Grande. Upon their arrival at Goliad, 
they gathered the charred bones of those who had been mur- 
dered by the Mexicans by command of Santa Anna, and buried 
them with military honors. 

At the family parting near San Felipe, Mrs. Kleberg mount- 
ed a pony, took her infant in her arms and started on her 
journey. (For a most graphic account of the experiences at- 
tending the "Runaway Scrape" the reading is cited to the first 
volume of the quarterly of the Texas Historical Association 
where an article by Mrs. Rose Kleberg will be found.) 

When the company was disbanded the Klebergs returned to 
their little settlement, which formed the nucleus of what is 
now the flourishing town of Cat Springs in Austin County. 

In 1848 Kleberg removed from the Cat Springs settlement 
to DeWitt County, near Myersville, where another German 
settlement was established, and was residing there at the com- 
mencement of the Civil War. He was loyal to the Southern 
Confederacy. Being fifty-eight years old, he was past the 
age of military service, but he organized a militia company. 
His sons. Otto and Rudolph, joined the Confederate army and 
served in General Tom Green's command. 

Robert Kleberg died full of years and honor at his home near 
Yorktown, Texas, October 23, 1888. 

He held various offices of honor, but none that required pro- 
longed absence from his family and home duties. 



As Told in County Names 165 



LAMB. 

This county was named for Lieutenant George A. Lamb, who 
was killed at the battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. He was 
born in Laurens District, South Carolina, October 3, 1814. He 
was left an orphan in boyhood and made his home with the 
Bankhead familj^ He had a good common school education 
and was of a genial, happy disposition. He came to Texas with 
young Richard Bankhead in 1834 ; Bankhead was a mar- 
ried man and with his wife and three little girls settled 
in what is now the western part of Walker County. Bank- 
head contracted a severe cold from exposure in moving, 
and died October 20, 1834, shortly after his arrival in 
Texas, leaving his widow and three little girls in charge 
of young Lamb, who faithfully discharged his trust. Lamb 
was frequently called from home to assist in repelling In- 
dian raids. For the protection of the widow and children 
he arranged a hiding place in the swamp near by, stocking it 
with ample provisions until his return. On September 8, 1835, 
he was married to Mrs. Bankhead. When volunteers were 
called for, he enlisted in a company then organizing in that 
region and was unanimously chosen Second Lieutenant. The 
company went promptly to General Houston's aid. After un- 
dergoing the hardships of that campaign, Lamb was killed 
in the first charge of the Texans. Having a presentiment that 
he would lose his life in the first battle he engaged in, he took 
all the money he had and his watch and sent all to his wife and 
step-children with an affectionate message. 



166 



The History and Geography of Texas 



Mcculloch. 




This county was named for Ben McCulloch, who was born 
in Rutherford County, Tenn,, November 11, 1811, and came to 
Texas in the winter of 1835-36. He was a private in the artil- 
lery corps at San Jacinto and was 
placed in immediate charge of the 
"Twin Sisters," two small but fam- 
ous brass cannons. On the next 
day he was promoted to a First 
Lieutenancy for gallantry in the 
battle. When the war was over, 
he settled in Gonzales and engaged 
in land surveying. In 1839 he 
was elected to the Texas Congress 
and served in that body two years, 
just after he had made his first 
successful Indian scouting trip. In 1840 he participated in 
the battle of Plum Creek. In 1841 Indian raids were so fre- 
quent that his services were in constant demand. In 1842 he 
was elected First Lieutenant of Hay's Company of Rangers. 
Later he resigned, owing to pressing personal matters, but re- 
joined as a private and was in many hard-fought contests 
with the Indians. He promptly joined the United States vol- 
unteers at the beginning of the Mexican War and his services 
as a scout for General Taylor received favorable notice in more 
than one official report. After that war he was engaged al- 
ternately in Indian war-fare and surveying land. In 1853 
President Pierce appointed him United States Marshal for the 
Western District of Texas. In 1858 President Buchanan sent 
him to Utah upon an important mission, the duties of which 
he performed with great tact and judgment. At the begin- 
ning of the Civil War, 1861, he was commissioned Brigadier 
General in the Confederate Army and ordered to Arkansas. 
He commanded his brigade at the battle of Wilson's Creek 
where the Federal General Cecil Lyons was killed. He was 
himself killed at the battle of Pea Ridge, March 7th, 1862. 



As Told in County Names 



167 



MOTLEY. 

This county was named for Dr. William Motley, who was 
born in Virginia, April 9, 1812. When he was a child his par- 
ents moved to Kentucky, where he was reared and educated. 
He graduated in medicine after taking a literary course at 
Transylvania University in 1834, and came to Texas in 1835, 
locating at Gonzales. He was a delegate from this muncipal- 
ity at the convention of March, 1836. He promptly joined the 
army after the adjournment of the convention and was aid to 
General Rusk at the battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836, where 
he was mortally wounded. In closing his official report of that 
battle, General Rusk said : "Dr. William Motley was mortally 
wounded and soon after his spirit took its flight to join the 
immortal Milam and others in the better world." 



SHERMAN. 

This county was named for General Sidney Sherman, who 
commanded the left wing of the cavalry at San Jacinto. He 
was a descendant of Roger Sherman of Revolutionary fame, hav- 
ing been born in Massachussetts 
in 1809. During his youth his 
family removed to Cincinnati, 
Ohio. In 1835 he was engaged in 
manufacturing bagging in New- 
port, Kentucky. Hearing of the 
Texas Revolution, he left his bus- 
iness and organized and equipped 
a company of fifty men to engage 
in the cause of Texas. He arrived 
at the Brazos in February, 1836, 
and hurried on to the relief of 
Travis in the Alamo, but when 
he reached Gonzales he learned that the Alamo had fallen. At 
the organization of the first regiment at Gonzales he was elected 
Lieutenant Colonel, and upon the reorganization of the army 
on the Brazos he was elected Colonel. The day before 
the battle of San Jacinto he made an attack on the Mex- 




168 The History and Geography of Texas 

icans. On the 21st he opened the fight and first sounded the 
war cry, "Remember the Alamo, Remember Goliad." Several 
months later, after hostilities had entirely ceased, he return- 
ed to Kentucky, where he had left his family. Before leaving 
for Texas, he was taken sick with fever and remained in bed 
ten weeks. Again, while on his way back to Texas, he was 
taken sick in Louisiana and confined six weeks. He returned 
to Texas with his family after a few months and settled on 
San Jacinto Bay. In 1842 he was elected to the Texas Con- 
gress. In 1840 he conceived the idea of rebuilding Harrisburg, 
which had been destroyed by Santa Anna in 1836. He with 
others purchased a 4,000 acre tract of land, including the old 
townsite. He went to Boston and interested capitalists, who 
organized a company to build a railroad from Harrisburg west- 
ward. After six or seven years of unabated effort he suc- 
ceeded in rebuilding the town and starting the first railway 
train in Texas. The shrill whistle of the "General Sherman" 
was the first glad sound of the locomotive upon the solitude 
of the Texas forests, the first west of the Sabine, and with one 
exception the first west of the Mississippi. From 1853 to the 
end of his life his business career was marked by successive 
misfortunes. He died in Galveston in 1873. 



As Told in County Names 169 



THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS. 

The Battle of San Jacinto was the final battle of the Texas 
Revolution, and deserves to be ranked among the decisive bat- 
tles of the different wars in America. 

On the 19th of December, 1836, the Congress of the Re- 
public of Texas defined its boundaries as follows: "Begin- 
ning at the mouth of the Sabine River and running west along 
the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues from the land, to the mouth 
of the Rio Grande ; thence up the principal stream of said river 
to its source ; thence due north to the forty-second degree of 
north latitude; thence along the boundary line as defined in 
the Treaty between the United States and Spain to the be- 
ginning," as shown on the following map. This map (page 170) 
also shows the county subdivision of the Republic up to 1825, 
the location of colonies during the existence of the Republic and 
other dates. 



REPUBLIC OF TEXAS 

and boundaries as claimed by Texas 

from December 19, 1 836 to 

November 25, i860. 




M I!e X I c( o 



ARK. 



F~^A N N I N 
Mercers 
Peter's \Coloni/ \ Colonij 



^^■ 



°<-^ 









30' 



Presidio del NorJ,^ 



■9 

Fisher 

Gerinan 
Co.' 



Rio 



s Colony AjftTn 
,-. — A ue ^7 <- r. 



-^ 



•^ 






\^V> 



r^^ 



/ 



^ coahuilaXn 

1 / 



■an"''* 









\ 




/ O 

/ NU 

LEQN 



-'^Velasco 



GULF OF 
MEXICO 



Evo ^^^;^,,. 



4 s 



latamoras 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE REPUBLIC OF THE RIO GRANDE. 

In 1839 there was a movement in Northern Mexico for the 
establishment of a Republic to be independent of Mexico. 
President Lamar declined to commit Texas to the move, but 
many in Texas sympathized with it. A force of about 600 
Texans joined the movement and marched into Mexico to be 
betrayed by the Mexicans. The names of persons in that en- 
terprise now on the map are Cameron and Zapata. 



CAMERON. 

Ewen Cameron was born in the highlands of Scotland in 
1811. He came to Texas in 1837 and immediately allied his 
fortunes with the Republic. The first opportunity which pre- 
sented itself for active service came in 1839. In furtherance 
of the cause of those liberal Mexicans who were still struggling 
against the tyranny of their government, he organized a com- 
pany of which he was elected Captain, and commanded it in 
a battle known as the battle of Alcantra, in which they were 
victorious. The revolution was a failure. Cameron then re- 
turned to Texas. Two years later he organized a company, 
and commanded it with conspicuous gallantry in the battle of 
Mier. With the entire command he was surrendered a pris- 
oner. While on their way to prison the Texans, led by Cam- 
eron, rushed upon their guards and made their escape, but 
after a series of horrible sufferings among the mountains of 
Mexico they gave themselves up to the Mexican soldiers. At 
the Haciendo Salado seventeen of the men were shot. Cam- 
eron, after drawing a white bean at this lottery of death, was 
ordered shot by Santa Anna later on. When he was taken 
out he bared his breast to his executioners, and his body was 
pierced by many bullets. His execution occurred April 25, 1843. 



172 The History and Geography of Texas 



ZAPATA. 

This county was named for Colonel Antonio Zapata, a na- 
tive of Mexico and a wealthy stockman. He owned a large 
cattle ranch on the Rio Grande in the region which is now 
Zapata County. He was an ardent Republican. He was Col- 
onel in command of forces in the army which was raised to fur- 
ther the interest of the Republic of the Rio Grande. He was 
captured at night while on his ranch, and was taken out and 
shot; his head was severed from his body and stuck on a pole 
somewhat after the fashion of the Royalists' treatment of the 
patriot Hidalgo. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE TEXAS NAVY. 

MOORE. 

This county was named for Commodore Edwin Ward Moore, 
a native of Virginia. At the breaking out of the Revolution 
in Texas he was a Lieutenant on the United States sloop Bos- 
ton; he resigned his commission and was appointed Captain in 
the Texas Navy. During President Houston's second admin- 
istration there occurred between Moore and the President a 
serious misunderstanding, the details of which may be learned 
in the Quarterly of the Texas Historical Association of April, 
1910. By the terms of annexation he was entitled to a trans- 
fer to the United States Navy, with the same rank which he 
held in the Texas Navy, but there were complications which 
prevented this and he retired from naval service. He went 
to Virginia, but returned to Galveston, Texas, in the employ 
of the Buchanan administration. Later he returned to his na- 
tive State and died there in 1865. 



CHAPTER IX. 

EARLY STATESMEN OF TEXAS. 

The work of the early statesmen of Texas admits of no ex- 
tended comment in a review of this character, but there are 
several prominent features of it that cannot be passed over. 

The first and foremost is our homestead law. "It is pecu- 
liarly an American institution," says Thompson, in his w^ork 
on "Homestead and Exemptions." If anything similar to it exists 
in any other country we are not aware of it. The earliest 
homestead law, of which the writer has any knowledge, was 
an act of the Congress of the Republic of Texas, passed Jan- 
uary 26, 1839. Since the passage of this act the protection of 
the homestead became a favorite object with all legislatures 
of Texas. When the State adopted a new Constitution, on en- 
tering the American Union in 1845, that instrument guaran- 
teed, for the first time, a family homestead. (See the article 
on Van Zandt, page 190.) Vermont led in 1849 in following 
the example of Texas, and today, with probably not an ex- 
ception, every state in the Union has a homestead law. 

The next feature to be noticed is the twelfth article of the 
Declaration of Rights in the Constitution of the Republic, which 
provides that "no person shall be imprisoned for debt in conse- 
quence of inability to pay." This, too, has been followed first 
by the Congress of the United States in 1839, and the statutes 
of all the states are today unincumbered by this relic of me- 
deival barbarism. 

The other feature is the simplified system of pleading, based 
upon the abolition of the distinction between law and equity 
in our courts, especially the doing away with the action of 
ejectment with John Doe, and Richard Roe and the casual 
ejector. Texas led in this, and in all the States of the Union 
there has been similar action. 

These were immense strides in the work of civilization, wor- 
thy of the pride of every patriotic Texan. 



As Told in County Names 



175 



Among- these the following are on our county map : 



Anderson 


Henderson 


Jack 


Rains 


Bee 


Howard 


Jones 


Van Zandt 


Bell 


Hunt 


Kaufman 


Wilson 


Crosby 


Irion 


Lamar 


Wood 


Hamilton 









ANDERSON. 

This county was named for Kenneth L. Anderson, who was 
born in Hilsboro, N. C, September 11, 1805, and was edu- 
cated in the celebrated Bingham School in his native county. 
He removed to Shelbyville, Tenn., about the year 1829, After 
practicing his profession at that place until 1837, he removed 
to Texas and located at San Augustine. He was appointed 
District Attorney in 1842, and later was elected a member of 
the lower branch of the Texas Congress, of which he became 
Speaker. He was one of the most eminent lawyers of the Re- 
public, and at different times formed partnerships with Cen- 
tral Rusk and Governor Henderson. He was Vice-President 
of the Republic in 1844, and died while on his way home from 
a session of Congress at Washington, on the Brazos. He was 
buried at Fanthorps, in Grimes County, July 3, 1845. The name 
of Fanthorps was afterward changed to Anderson in his honor. 



BEE. 



This county was named for Barnard E. Bee, who was born 
in Charleston, S. C, in 1787. He was educated in the law and 
served on the staff of Governor James Hamilton of South Car- 
olina. (See the sketch of Hamilton below.) Bee was also prom- 
inent in the nullification troubles of the State. He came to 
Texas and joined the army in the summer of 1836. He was 
elected as one of three commissioners to accompany Santa Anna 
to Washington City in order that he might, in the presence of 
General Jackson, renew the promises he had made to the Re- 
public of Texas in regard to independence and other matters. 



176 The History and Geography of Texas 

The promises were renewed in General Jackson's presence, but 
they were never complied with. When the commissioners 
reached New Orleans Santa Anna, being in want of funds, drew 
his draft upon his bank in Vera Cruz for $2,000, and by the en- 
dorsement of Colonel Bee, he obtained the money. Upon his 
return to Vera Cruz, he repudiated the draft upon the plea 
that he was a prisoner under duress. Colonel Bee made good 
the draft, and after waiting for some time was paid back by 
the Republic of Texas, He was Secretary of War under Pres- 
ident Houston, and Secretary of State under President Lamar, 
and later Minister to the United States from the Republic of 
Texas. He was subsequently commissioned as Minister to Mex- 
ico. When his credentials were sent to Mexico, Santa Anna 
politely returned them, with the statement that he would be 
delighted to receive Colonel Bee as his friend, but never as 
the official representative of the rebellious province of Texas. 
He was opposed to annexation, and after that event was con- 
summated, he returned to South Carolina, where he died in 
1853. 

While General Hamilton P. Bee was speaker of the House 
of Representatives of Texas the county of Bee was named in 
honor of his father. To another son. Colonel Barnard E, Bee 
Jr,, a graduate of West Point, who was killed at the first bat- 
tle of Manassas, the world is indebted for the prefix "Stone- 
wall" to the name of General T, J, Jackson. 



As Told in County Names 



177 



BELL. 




This county was named for Peter Hansborough Bell, who 
was born in Culpepper County, Va., in 1808, and was reared 
and educated there. Upon attaining his majority, he removed 
to Petersburg, Va., and was 
engaged in business there 
when in March, 1836, learn- 
ing that the Texans were hard 
pressed in their struggle for 
liberty, he set sail and arrived 
off the mouth of the Brazos 
in the first days of April. As 
nearly all the inhabitants had 
fled from that section upon 
hearing of the approach of 
Santa Anna, there was no 
communication with the in- 
terior, and he was presented 
with the alternative of either re-embarking and sailing back 
to the United States or plunging through the wilderness on 
foot to find Houston's army. He set out on foot, following 
the course of the river, and on the 12th of April found Hous- 
ton's army just as it was leaving the Brazos. He immediately 
enlisted, marched with the army to San Jacinto, and partici- 
pated in the conflict as a private in Captain Karnes' Cavalry 
Company. He remained in the army for some time and then 
attached himself to the ranger service, and was thus engaged 
when he was appointed Inspector General in 1839. After the 
expiration of his term he again joined the ranger service and 
in 1845 was commissioned Captain of rangers and was in this 
service when the Mexican War began. In 1846 he enlisted in the 
volunteer service of the United States and was in Taylor's army. 
Upon the organization of Hays' Second Regiment it was divided, 
part going to the army of General Scott under Hays and the re- 
mainder, under Bell, as lieutenant colonel, was assigned to duty 
on the Rio Grande. After the conclusion of the war he returned 



178 The History and Geography of Texas 

to Texas. In 1849 he was candidate for Governor against Gov- 
ernor Wood, who was asking for a second term. He defeated 
Wood, served as Governor, and was re-elected Governor in 1851. 
Some months before the expiration of his term, in 1853, he was 
elected to the United States Congress and served until 1855, when 
he was re-elected and served until 1857. He then married Mrs. 
Ella Eaton Dickens, daughter of Hon. William Eaton of North 
Carolina, moved to North Carolina, and was living there on his 
plantation in 1861 when the Civil War began. He was ten- 
dered a commission as Colonel in the Confederate Army by 
President Davis, but declined it. He was now fifty-three years 
old, and added to this, shared the feeling of many of his neigh- 
bors that the policy of secession was of doubtful expediency in 
the first place, and in the second place the odds were too large- 
ly against the South. He was a silent and sad spectator of that 
four year's conflict and at its close witnessed the destruction 
of his fortune. He lived a retired life the remainder of his 
days. In 1891 the Legislature of Texas voted him an annual 
pension for life. He died March 8, 1898, and was buried in 
the cemetery at Littleton, Warren County, N. C, by the side of 
his wife, who died in the preceding year. 

Upon the brick vault over their remains is the following 
inscription : 

"Peter H. Bell, ex-Governor of Texas, died March 8, 1898, 
age 90 years. Died July 16, 1897, Ella Reeves Bell, wife of 
ex-Governor Bell, in her 62 year." 

Of him, Brown, the Texas Historian says: "He was a man 
of splendid physique, and combined with true courage, was 
distinguished by kind and genial characteristics. It is believed 
that he had not personal enemy in Texas." 

CROSBY. 

This county was named for Stephen Crosby, who was born 
in South Carolina in 1808. He went to Alabama about 1830 
and engaged in steamboating, and continued in this until about 
1845 when he came to Texas and accepted the position of chief 
clerk in the Land Office, to which position he was elected in 



As Told in County Names 179 

1853 and in 1855. In describing the Democratic convention 
of 1857 Governor Lubbock says in his memoirs: "There was 
some fun in nominating the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office. The convention was really anxious to nominate Cap- 
tain Stephen Crosby the incumbent of the office, and without 
doubt one of the most popular officers and men in the State. 
He had, however, strayed off from the Democratic party and 
joined the Know Nothings. He was shelved by the pledge pre- 
scribed by the convention and ran as an independent, but was 
defeated, but was re-elected in 1859, and under successive 
elections served until removed by the military authorities in 
August, 1867." He died in Austin, Texas, in 1869. 

HAMILTON. 

This county was named for General James Hamilton, lawyer 
and Governor of South Carolina. He was born May 8, 1786, 
in Charleston. He served with distinction in the war of 1812 
on the Canadian frontier. In 1823 he was a member of the 
South Carolina Legislature ; in 1825, he was elected to the Con- 
gress of the United States, and was re-elected in 1829. In 1831, 
he was elected Governor of South Carolina. He became inter- 
ested in promoting the cause of Texas independence in 1838 
and was appointed commercial and diplomatic agent to Eu- 
rope by President Lamar. He negoiated treaties of commerce 
and navigation with England and the Netherlands; while in 
this service he sacrificed most of his private fortune. He de- 
clined the command of the army of the Texas Republic, and 
declined the seat from South Carolina in the United States 
Senate, made vacant by the death of Senator Calhoun in 1850. 
In 1857 he started to Texas in the hope of obtaining financial 
relief for the losses he suffered while in the service of the Re- 
public, but was lost in the wreck of the steamship "Opelousas," 
on which he was a passenger. He was a highly cultured man 
and was one of the founders of the Southern Review. 



180 



The History and Geography of Texas 



HENDERSON. 



This county was named for J, Pinckney Henderson, the first 
Governor of the State of Texas. He was born March 31, 1809, 
in Lincoln County, N. C. He attended the university of that 

state at Chapel Hill in 1830, and 
then studied law, removing to 
Mississippi and settling at Canton, 
where he practiced his profession 
until he came to Texas. In 1836 
he raised a company of volunteers 
and brought them to Texas, ar- 
riving at Velasco in June. At the 
inauguration of President Houston 
in October, 1836, Henderson was 
appointed Attorney General and 
later became Secretary of State. 
In 1837 he was Minister to Eng- 
land and France, and negotiated 
treaties of commerce and navigation with these countries. He 
returned to Texas in 1840 and resumed the practice of law with 
Thomas J. Rusk and Kenneth L. Anderson as partners. He was 
sent in 1844 as special Minister to the United States. In 1845 
he was elected first Governor of the State of Texas. During 
the Mexican War he temporarily abandoned his office and be- 
came commander-in-chief of the Texas forces with the rank of 
Major General. For his gallantry at Monterey he was pre- 
sented a sword by the United States Congress. In 1857 he was 
elected United States Senator to succeed Senator Rusk, but died 
June 4, 1858, at Washington, D. C, before taking his seat, and 
was buried in that city. 




HOWARD. 

Volney Erskine Howard was born in Oxford County, Maine, 
October 22, 1809. He had the usual experience of a bright New 
England boy, laboring on the farm and attending school alter- 
nately. He entered Bloomfield Academy and afterward Water- 



As Told in County Names 181 

field College. Upon the invitation of an uncle, who was prac- 
ticing law, he went to Mississippi in 1832, but upon his arrival 
there he learned that his uncle had just died. He at once began 
the study of law and located at Brandon, where he was elected 
a member of the Legislature and in the same year was elected 
to carry the electoral vote to Washington. While in that city he 
was married to Catherine Elizabeth Gooch, a native of Massa- 
chussetts, a lady of rare accomplishments. Upon his return 
to Mississippi he was appointed reporter for the Supreme 
Court and compiled seven volumes of Howard's Mississippi Re- 
ports, During this time he purchased "The Mississippian" and 
made it the leading Democratic newspaper of the Southwest. 
In 1840 he was nominated as the candidate of the Democratic 
party for a seat in the United States Congress, and although he 
ran one thousand votes ahead of his ticket, he was defeated by 
his Whig opponent, Governor Tucker. During his career the 
union Bank monopolized the politics of Mississippi. He voted 
against the bill by which the State guaranteed the bank's issue 
and predicted the insolvency of the bank and the repudiation 
of the State's obligation by the friends of the bill, in the event of 
its passage, a prediction that became true in a few years. He 
was severely criticized by the press and as severely retorted 
through his paper and on the stump. In the midst of public 
discussion on the subject he was chosen by the Democratic party 
to answer the challenge of Sargent S. Prentiss to a joint dis- 
cussion at Jackson. This meeting has always been regarded 
as a famous event in the political history of Mississippi. Par- 
tisans of the respective sides both claimed that their champion 
won the victory, but all admitted that Howard carried his end 
of the discussion with matchless skill and ability. It was dur- 
ing this stormy period that Hiram G. Runnels, president and 
manager of the bank, challenged Howard to fight a duel ; the 
challenge was promptly accepted, and the duel was fought at 
Columbus. Howard was shot, the ball striking a rib and cours- 
ing around the breast. As he had predicted, the bank became 
involved and the question of repudiation came before the Leg- 
islature. Repudiation was vigorously opposed by Howard, but 
the measure carried, greatly to his disgust. 



182 The History and Geography of Texas 

He immediately afterward shook the dust of Mississippi poli- 
tics from his feet and moved to New Orleans, where he began 
again to practice law. Just at this juncture, the annexation of 
Texas to the United States was assuming tangible shape, and 
late in December, 1844, he removed with his family to San An- 
tonio, and within a short time after his arrival there was elected 
a delegate to the first State Constitutional Convention in July, 
1845. He took an active part in the convention, and at the first 
election for State officers and a legislature, he was chosen Sen- 
ator from San Antonio. On the 27th of February, 1846, Gov- 
ernor Henderson appointed him to the position of Attorney Gen- 
eral, but he declined to qualify and kept his place in the State 
Senate. In 1849 he was candidate for the United States Con- 
gress to succeed Timothy Pilsbury, also a native of Maine, and 
was opposed by Judge Williamson ("Three-legged Willie") a 
very popular man, but he defeated Williamson and served two 
terms in Congress. He achieved a national reputation by his 
speeches on the compromise measures of 1850, especially the 
features directly affecting Texas. At the expiration of his term 
he was appointed by President Pierce attorney to the Land Com- 
mission of California, but served only a few months, when he 
located in San Francisco and began the practice of law. In 1856 
the "Vigilantes" were at the height of their power in San Fran- 
cisco. Howard was an outspoken, uncompromising advocate of 
the supremacy of the law and strenuously opposed the policy of 
the Vigilantes. The Governor issued his proclamation, order- 
ing them to disband, but they defied his order. He called out 
the militia and put Howard in command, but their strength was 
too great to be overcome by the militia. The enemity to Howard, 
resulting from his course, was so great in San Francisco that 
he removed to Sacramento in 1858, and in 1861 located in Los 
Angeles, where he devoted himself to the practice of law for 
about ten years. He accepted the office of District Attorney 
for several terms and was a member of the convention that 
framed the Constitution of California. He was elected Judge 
of Superior Court of Los Angeles in 1880, and while holding this 
position was nominated to a place on the Supreme Bench, but 
declined, owing to advancing years and the necessity of having 



As Told in County Names 



183 



to be away from home. His term as district judge expired in 
1884, when he reached the age of seventy-five years. He then 
retired and died in 1889. 

HUNT. 



This county was named in honor of General Memucan Hunt, 
who was born in North Carolina, in Granville (Now Vance) Coun- 
ty, August 7, 1807. Memucan Hunt, grandfather of the subject 
of this sketch, was a member of 
the Provincial Assembly of North 
Carolina in 1774, and again in 
1776, and in 1777 was appointed 
First State Treasurer, and held the 
office ten years. William Hunt, 
father of General Memucan Hunt, 
was a Major in the Revolutionary 
War. 

General Hunt was reared on his 
father's farm. At the age of four- 
teen he entered Bingham School, at 
Hillsboro, N. C. After finishing 
the course, he returned home and 
assisted in the management of his 
father's business. At twenty-two 
he entered a commercial partner- 
ship, doing business at Weldon and 
Norfolk. In 1834 he was a leader in the internal improve- 
ments conventions held at Hillsboro and Raleigh, and late in 
that year removed to Mississippi and took charge of a plan- 
tation and slaves his father had given him, and was engaged 
in a large and lucrative business when the Texas Revolution 
broke out. Early in 1836 General Thomas J. Green, a brother- 
in-law of Wm. H. and Jno. A. Wharton, was in Mississippi, 
raising troops for Texas, under authority of the Consultation 
of Texas. J. Pinckney Henderson, another North Carolinian, 
had but a short time before removed to Mississippi and had 
begun the practice of law at the county site of Madison, and 




184 The History and Geography of Texas 

both he and Hunt warmly sympathized with the cause of Texas. 
When news of the tragedies of the Alamo and Goliad reached 
them, they immediately joined Green. Hunt was offered a 
Brigadier General's commission upon their arrival in Texas. 
Several hundred men were soon mustered in, and they proceed- 
ed by boat to New Orleans, and then to Velasco, Texas, arriv- 
ing there in June, 1836, eight weeks after the battle of San 
Jacinto. Although the revolution ended with the victory of 
San Jacinto, Mexico was threatening another invasion, and 
President Burnet offered Hunt a commission as Major Gen- 
eral, to serve only in case a renewal of the war, with power 
to appoint subalterns, and he appointed, among others, J. 
Pinckney Henderson, a Brigadier General and Dr. Ashbel 
Smith, Surgeon. In the interim, Hunt, through agents in Miss- 
issippi, Tennessee, and North Carolina, organized and equip- 
ped troops at his personal expense, issuing stirring appeals to 
the people of those states. On December 25, 1836, there being 
no further apprehension of an invasion from Mexico, he re- 
signed and started back to Mississippi, but was urged by Pres- 
ident Houston to accept the position of Minister from the 
Republic of Texas to the United States, to act with W. H. 
Wharton, and in the last hours of President Jackson's Admin- 
istration, they succeeded in having the United States recognize 
the independence of Texas. Wharton immediately returned to 
Texas and Hunt remained in charge of the interests of Texas 
until August 1837, when he left for a business trip to Miss- 
issippi. Just prior to his departure he was banqueted by Cal- 
houn, White, and other members of the United States Senate 
and lower house of Congress. 

Lamar succeeded Houston as President in 1838, and appoint- 
ed Hunt Secretary of the Navy. He then secured the services 
of a number of the better young officers of the United States 
Navy who resigned their commissions and joined the Texas 
Navy. The brilliant exploits of this shortlived navy are among 
the precious relics of the history of the Republic. 

In 1839 he was appointed to act with a commissioner from 
the United States to adjust the eastern boundary line between 
that country and Texas, and concluded a treaty in the same 



As Told in County Names 185 

year. During- President Houston's second term as President 
he was appointed Inspector General of the Army. In 1842 he 
was Adjutant General in the Somervell Expedition. In 1846 
he enlisted in the Mexican War; was tendered a position on 
the staff of General Henderson, but failing health compelled 
him to return to Texas in 1846. After annexation he retired 
from public life and devoted his energies to recuperating his 
fortune which he had sacrificed for Texas. He had expended 
$28,000 in cash and personally obligated himself for $5,000 more, 
and in the interim had sacrificed his planting interests in Miss- 
issippi. The Legislature of Texas, without a dissenting vote, 
allowed his claim and paid it in lands, and he thus became a 
large land-owner, but unsettled as it was, it was of little value. 
In 1850 he was married to Annie Taliaferro Howard of Gal- 
veston. He obtained the first charter for a railroad from Red 
River through Central Texas, to the coast and devoted the re- 
mainder of his life to this enterprise. He served one term in 
the Legislature (1852), and in 1853 was appointed commis- 
sioner to represent the United States in adjusting the south- 
western boundary. He continued actively promoting his rail- 
way enterprise, enlisting capitalists in New Orleans, New York, 
and Boston, and in 1856, while in New Orleans, he became sud- 
denly ill and returned to Galveston. Upon the advice of phy- 
sicians that he seek a higher altitude, he left Galveston for 
Tennessee, and, gradually growing worse, died at the home of 
his brother, in Tipton County, in that State, June 5, 1856. 



186 The History and Geography of Texas 



IRION. 

Robert Anderson Irion was born in Paris, Tennessee, July 
7, 1806, where he was reared and educated until ready for the 
university. He graduated from Transylvania University, Ken- 
tucky, in 1826, studied law, and entered upon his profession 
in his native state. He came to Texas in 1833 and located at 
Nacogdoches. He was elected a member of the first Senate 
of the Republic of Texas. In 1837 he was appointed Secre- 
tary of State in General Houston's Cabinet. After serving out 
his term, he returned to the practice of law at Nacogdoches. 
When General Houston was inaugurated the second time, he 
was tendered the office of Secretary of State, but declined and 
lived the remainder of his life at Nacogdoches, where he died 
in 1860. 

JACK. 

This county was named for William H. and Patrick C. Jack. 

Wheeler's History of North Carolina, in giving an account 
of the adoption of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independ- 
ence says: 

"It was forwarded to the Continental Congress, at Phila- 
delphia, by Captain James Jack, and a copy, also, to Samuel 
Johnson, moderator of the Provincial Congress, at Hillsboro, 
on August 25, 1775." 

After the close of the War of the Revolution, Patrick Jack, 
son of Captain James Jack, removed to Wilkes County, Geor- 
gia, and became a prominent citizen of that state, serving as 
a member of the Legislature, and in 1812 commanding a com- 
pany in the war with Great Britian. 

He reared a family in Wilkes County, Georgia, of whom 
William H. Jack, Patrick C. Jack, and Spencer H. Jack be- 
came prominent in the early history of Texas. 

William H. Jack was born April 12, 1806, and was reared 
and educated in Georgia, graduating at the University of that 
State in 1827. He studied law and removed to Tuscaloosa, 
Ala., and began the practice of law in 1828. In the following 



As Told in County Names 187 

year he was elected a member of the Legislature of Alabama. 
In 1830 he removed to Texas and located at San Felipe and be- 
gan the practice of law. In 1832 his brother, Patrick C. Jack, 
and others, having been imprisoned at Anahuac by the Mexi- 
can authorities, he organized a party for their release, which 
was accomplished later. He was the author of the famous 
"Turtle Bayou Resolutions." In 1835 he joined the Army of 
the Republic, taking part in the principal campaigns and per- 
formed his last military service as a private soldier at the 
battle of San Jacinto. Shortly afterward he was appointed 
Secretary of State in Burnets' Cabinet and served as such un- 
til October, 1836. During that time he was elected a mem- 
ber of the lower house of the First Congress. He was after- 
ward a member of the Senate of the Seventh and Eighth Con- 
gresses, and was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He 
died of yellow fever at Galveston, August 24, 1844. 

Patrick C. Jack, brother of William H., came to Texas in 
•1832 after having located and practiced law for three years in 
Jefferson County, Alabama. Upon his arrival in Texas he lo- 
cated first at Anahuac and later at San Felipe and began the 
practice of law. For protesting against the arbitrary conduct of 
Bradburn, Mexican commander at Aanhuac, he was imprisoned, 
but was soon released, as above mentioned. At the beginning of 
the revolution, in 1835, he promptly volunteered and command- 
ed a company at the storming of Bexar. In December, he was 
elected a member of the lower house of the Second Congress 
of the Republic (1838-1839) and in 1841 was appointed Dis- 
trict Judge of the Sixth District, in which position he served 
until he was stricken v/ith yellow fever in Houston, where he 
died August 4, 1844. 

As these sketches are restricted to men for whom counties 
have been named, we can do no more than to merely mention 
Spencer H. Jack, a no less distinguished member of the family, 
and Thomas M. Jack, son of William H. Jack, the princely gen- 
tleman and scholar, the erudite lawyer and finished orator, the 
gallant soldier and genial gentleman beloved of all who came 
within the sphere of his magnetism. 




188 The History and Geography of Texas 

JONES. 

Dr. Anson Jones, last President of the Republic of Texas, 
was born at Great Barrington, Mass., on the 20th day of Feb- 
ruary, 1789. He was licensed to practice medicine in 1820, and 

after several years in the practice went 
to Venezuela. In 1833 he came to Tex- 
as and settled in Brazoria; he joined 
Captain R. J. Calder's company as a 
private. Later he was made surgeon 
of the Second Regiment, and in that ca- 
pacity served at the battle of San Ja- 
cinto, leaving his medical post long 
enough to take part in the battle as a 
private. In 1836 he represented Bra- 
zoria in the Texas Congress. In 1838 
he was appointed Minister to the United 
States, and while absent was elected to the Senate; in 1842 was 
made Secretary of State by President Houston, and at the close 
of his term was elected President of the Republic. His last 
remarks in the ceremonies attendant upon the change of Texas 
from a Republic to a State of the Union are justly regarded 
as one of the finest specimens of Texas oratory. After an- 
nexation he retired to his country home, and for eleven years 
remained in private life. In 1857 his friends brought him for- 
ward for the United States Senate, but he was defeated, and 
on the 7th of January, 1858, he commited suicide by shooting 
himself at the old Capitol Hotel in Houston. 

KAUFMAN. 

David Spangler Kaufman, in whose honor this county was 
named, was born at Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, December, 
1812. He attended the common school there, entered Prince- 
ton College and graduated in 1833. He then moved to Natchez, 
Mississippi and there studied law and was admitted to the 
bar. He then located at Nachitoches, Louisiana, and began the 
practice of his profession. In 1837 he moved to Nacogdoches, 
Texas, and in 1838 was elected to the lower house of the Texas 



As Told in County Names 



189 



Congress and served in 1839-40-1-2 and 1843, and in the Sen- 
ate of the Texas Congress from 1843, up to annexation. He was 
chosen Speaker of the lower house in 1839 and again chosen in 
1840. In 1845 he was appointed Charge D' Affairs at Wash- 
ington. He moved to Lowe's Ferry on the Sabine in that year. 
At the first election for members of the United States Con- 
gress he was chosen to repi'esent the eastern district of Texas, 
re-elected in 1847 and 1849, and on the 31st of January, 1851^ 
died and was buried in Washington. He was a lawyer of ex- 
ceptional ability, especially gifted as an orator. During the 
debate on the Cherokee Land Bill, a measure championed by 
Sam Houston, then a member of the Texas Congress, Kaufman 
represented the opposition with conspicuous ability and later 
in the lower house of the United States Congress he won his 
laurels in the debates on the Compromise Measures of 1850. 

LAMAR. 

Mirabeau B. Lamar, second President of the Republic of 
Texas, was born in Louisville, Georgia, August 16, 1798. In 
early life he was the private secretary of Governor Troupe; 
in 1835 he visited Texas and de- 
clared his intention of becoming 
a citizen. He returned to Georgia 
to make his arrangements. Hear- 
ing that the revolution had begun, 
he hurried back to Texas. He 
reached the army encamped on 
the Brazos ; enlisted as a private ; 
was in the battle of San Jacinto, 
and was especially commended for 
gallantry by General Houston. 
Soon after the battle he was in- 
vited to President Burnet's Cab- 
inet and made Secretary of War. 
At the first election he was chosen 
Vice President of the Republic, and at the second election was 
chosen President to succeed General Houston and served two 
years. In 1847 he was made Post Commander at Laredo. In 




190 



The History and Geography of Texas 



1851 he was married to Miss MafRtt, sister of the celebrated Con- 
federate Naval Commander, and settled in Fort Bend County 
on his plantation. In 1859 he was appointed as Minister to 
Argentine Republic, but his health failing, he returned home 
and died, December 19, 1859, and was buried at Richmond, 
Texas. 

RAINS. 

This county was named for Emory Rains, a native of War- 
ren County, Tennessee, where he was born May 4, 1800. He 
came to Texas in 1826 and settled in Red River (Lamar) Coun- 
ty. Later having located in Shelby County, he represented 
Shelby and Sabine Counties in the Senate of the Republic dur- 
ing the Second Congress in 1837 and in the Constitutional Con- 
vention of 1845. After annexation he represented Shelby Coun- 
ty in the Legislature and held several minor offices. He died 
March 4, 1878, in the county that bears his name. 

VAN ZANDT. 

Isaac Van Zandt, in whose honor this county was named, 
was born July 10, 1813, in Franklin County, Tennessee. He 
was the son of Jacob and Mary (Isaac) Van Zandt. His father 

was the youngest son of 
Jacob Van Zandt, who, 
about the year 1800, moved 
from North Carolina to 
Tennessee and settled in 
Franklin County. His ma- 
ternal grandfather, Samuel 
Isaac, moved from South 
Carolina, to Lincoln, an ad- 
joining county, about the 
same time. Both grand- 
fathers were soldiers in the 
Revolutionary War, Isaac 
having been one of Marion's 
men. Isaac Van Zandt's early education was only such as was af- 
forded by the country schools, ill health interferring with this 
much of the time, but his fondness for reading good books 




As Told in County Names 191 

largely compensated his lack of school work. He early became 
a member of the Primitive Baptist Church and so continued 
through life. 

At the age of twenty he married Francis Cook Lipscomb, a 
cousin of Judge Lipscomb, of the Supreme Court of Texas. 
About this time he began merchandising with his father at 
Salem, a nearby village. His father soon afterwards died and 
the business was closed. 

He then converted all his holdings into money, went North 
and purchased goods, and began merchandizing at Coffeeville, 
Mississippi. It was during the "flush times" in Mississippi, 
and he went down in the general financial crash. 

In 1838 he started for Texas, but did not arrive until late 
in 1839, having spent most of the time at Camp Sabine, an 
abandoned military post, where he was ill most of the time. 
He made a brief trip into Texas and returned with the news 
that he had been offered two hundred dollars by a Mr. Shoe- 
maker to settle up some business for him. He then (December 
1839) moved his family into Texas, and after going into an 
unfinished log-house he later purchased a place near Elysian 
Fields in Harrison County. He lived here until his appoint- 
ment as Minister to Washington. After his return to Texas 
he took up his abode at Marshall, which town he helped to lay 
out in 1842. He was licensed to practice law in 1840. In this 
year, while yet not entitled to vote, he became candidate for 
Congress and was elected by two-thirds majority over his op- 
ponent, and while a member of that body opposed Houston's 
"Cherokee Land Bill." He was re-elected to Congress the next 
year. In 1842, although only twenty-nine years old, he was 
appointed by President Houston Minister Plenipotentiary to the 
United States and made the trip to Washington, by private con- 
veyance. He spent the greater part of 1842 and 1843 in Wash- 
ington. It was during this stay in Washington, that he, in 
company with J. Pinckney Henderson, had frequent conferences 
with John C. Calhoun, the result of which was a treaty of an- 
nexation which was rejected by the United States Senate; in 
1844 he was on the Princeton with President Tyler and party 
when the bursting of a gun killed Mr. Upshur and Mr. Gil- 



192 The History and Geography of Texas 

mer, members of Tyler's Cabinet. He returned to Texas in 
1844 and was elected to the Constitutional Convention of 1845 
and led the forces in favor of inserting the "Homestead Clause" 
in the Constitution. After this he resumed the practice of 
law, and in 1847 was a candidate for Governor, but it was not 
his to complete the race, as death ended his career before the 
election. He died of yellow fever at Houston, October 11, 1847, 
at the age of thirty-four years three months and one day. At 
his death his family consisted of his wife and five children. 
This family circle continued unbroken for sixty-one years, un- 
til the death of his widow, April 8, 1909, at the advanced age 
of nine-three years. 

WILSON. 

James C. Wilson was born in England in 1816. He was a 
man of superior education and intelligence. He came to Texas 
in 1837 and located in Brazoria County. When General Woll 
made his raid into Texas, capturing San Antonio and a number 
of prominent citizens, a proclamation was issued, calling for 
troops, and Wilson joined the company of Captain Reese from 
Brazoria. Following the fortunes of his company, which was. 
in the I\Iier Expedition, he was made a prisoner and marched 
to Mexico City. He made his escape from prison, returned to 
Texas, and in 1844 was elected District Clerk of Brazoria Coun- 
ty. He held this office until after annexation, when he remov- 
ed to Matagorda County, which he represented in the Senate 
of Texas. In 1856 he was appointed Commissioner of Claims. 
At the end of his term he joined the itinerant ministry of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church and died at Gonzales in 1861. 



As Told in County Names 



193 



WOOD. 



This county was named for Georg-e T. Wood, who was born 
in Georgia in 1815, and came to Texas in 1838, locating in 
Liberty County. He engaged in planting and performed some 
service as a ranger. He represented 
Liberty in 1841 and 1842 in the Con- 
gress of the Republic, and was later 
commissioned Brigadier General of the 
militia. At the beginning of the Mexi- 
can War he enlisted and was made Col- 
onel of a regiment that participated in 
General Taylor's campaign. After the 
war was over, he returned to Texas and 
represented his district in the State 
Senate. In 1847 he was elected Gov- 
ernor of the State, but held the office 
only one term, having been defeated by 
P. Hansborough Bell in 1849. He then 

retired to private life and died in the part of Liberty County 
now- embraced in San Jacinto County in 1856. 




13 



CHAPTER X. 

THE EARLY JURISTS OF TEXAS. 

The lawyer of this generation who is familiar with the sys- 
tem of jurisprudence that has been developed from its incep- 
tion in 1836 cannot fail to be impressed with the preeminent 
ability of the lawyers and judges whose constructive genius 
laid the foundation so deep and broad and withal so much 
in harmony with those principles of justice and good practical 
judgment that must forever remain their most enduring mon- 
ument. Of those who have been commemorated in County 
names are: 



Brewster 


Gray 


Hutchinson 


Oldham 


Collingsworth 


Hansford 


Lipscomb 


Roberts 


Dallam 


Hartley 


Mills 


Webb 


Donley 


Hemphill 


Ochiltree 


Wheeler 


Franklin 









BREWSTER. 

Henry Percy Brewster was born in Laurens District, South 
Carolina, November 22, 1816. At the age of nineteen, while 
on a visit to Alabama, he heard of the fall of the Alamo and 
the massacre at Goliad. He hurriedly made his way to New 
Orleans and embarked in a vessel for Texas. He arrived at 
Velasco in the early spring of 1836 and proceeded to the head- 
quarters of the Texas army and enlisted as a private in Cap- 
tain Briscoe's Company and was made private secretary to 
General Houston, participating in the battle of San Jacinto, 
April 21. He accompanied the General to New Orleans in 
May and, returning to Texas in August, was made Secretary 
of War in Burnet's Cabinet. After retiring from that position, 
and just as he arrived at the age of twenty, he began the prac- 
tice of law at Brazoria and from the outset was recognized 
as a most brilliant and thorough young lawyer. In 1840 he 
was appointed District Attorney. After holding that office un- 
til 1843, he resigned and resumed his practice and immediate- 
ly went to the forefront of his profession, and eschewed po- 
litical preferment. He was engaged in much of the most im- 



As Told in County Names 



195 



portant litigation in the State of the succeeding ten years. In 
1846 he was Attorney General of Texas, succeeding J, W. Harris. 
In 1855 he moved to Washington and continued the practice of 
law there until the breaking out of the Civil War, when he 
returned to Texas and was appointed Adjutant General and 
chief of staff to Albert Sidney Johnston and was near him 
when he was killed at Shiloh. Later he was on special duty 
in the Confederate Army, mainly with General Hood. When 
peace came, he returned to Texas and resumed the practice 
of law at San Antonio and continued until 1883, when he ac- 
cepted the appointment to the office of Commissioner of In- 
surance, Statistics, and History tendered by Governor Ireland, 
and was in the active discharge of his duties, when on the 17th 
day of November, 1884, he was stricken with paralysis and 
died. By special request before death, his body was carried 
to Galveston, taken out to sea and buried in the waters of the 
Gulf. 

COLLINSWORTH. 

This county was named for James T. Collinsworth, first 
Chief Justice of the Republic of Texas, who was born in Tenn- 
essee in 1804. He was educated in the common schools, studied 
law and began the practice 1826. 
From 1830 to 1834 he was United 
States District Attorney in Tennes- 
see and at the expiration of his term 
came to Texas and located in Mata- 
gorda. He was a member of the con- 
stitutional convention of 1836 and a 
signer of the Texas Declaration of 
Independence. President Burnet ap- 
pointed him one of the Commission- 
ers to the United States, and upon 
the organization of the judiciary sys- 
tem of the Republic of Texas, in 1837, Collingsworth was ap- 
pointed Chief Justice. He became a candidate for the Pres- 
idency of Texas in 1838 and during the canvass was drowned 
in Galveston Bay. The historians differ as to the manner of 
his death, some alleging that he committed suicide by jump- 




196 



The History and Geography of Texas 



ing from a steamer, but others alleging that it was accidental 
drowning. 

DALLAM. 

This county was named for James W. Dallam, who was born 
in the city of Baltimore on the 24th day of September, 1818. 
He was educated at Brown University, Rhode Island and later 
studied law under Reverdy Johnson in Baltimore. In 1839 he 
removed to Matagorda, Texas, went to Washington, D. C, in 
1844, and there complied Dallam's Digest of the decisions of 
the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas, which were pub- 
lished in 1845. In the fall of that year he returned to Mata- 
gorda and married the daughter of S. Rhoads Fisher. In 1847 
he was induced to undertake the establishment of a newspaper 
in Indianola; he went to New Orleans to make arrangements 
for its publication and was there stricken with yellow fever, 
of which he died, August 20, 1847. 



V 



DONLEY. 

Stockton P. Donley was born in Howard County, Missouri, 
May 27, 1821. He was educated at Transylvania University, 
Kentucky, and came from there to Texas in 1846, locating at 

Clarksville, in Red River County. In 
1853 he was elected District Attorney. 
In 1860 he removed to Tyler and in 1861 
enlisted as a private in Gregg's Regi- 
ment; was promoted to a Lieutenancy 
for gallantry at Fort Donaldson ; was 
captured there, was exchanged and, 
finding that his health would no longer 
jiermit him to serve in the field, return- 
ed to Tyler, and resumed the practice 
of law. In 1866 he was elected to the 
supreme bench, but was superseded in 
1867 by the military. He resumed the 
])ractice of law in partnership with 
Judge Roberts, and died in Kaufman, 
Texas, February 17, 1871. 




As Told in County Names 



197 



FRANKLIN. 



Franklin County was named for Hon. Benjamin C. Franklin, 
who was born in Georgia, April 25, 1805, and was educated at 
Franklin College, Athens, Georgia. He was admitted to the 
bar in 1827 and began the 
practice of law at Macon, 
Georgia. He removed to 
Texas in April, 1835, and 
immediately joined a com- 
pany in pursuit of Indians. 
Later he enlisted as a priv- 
ate in Captain Calder's 
Company and was in the 
campaign from Gonzales to 
San Jacinto, in which lat- 
ter engagement he partici- 
pated. After the war he 
was appointed District 
Judge of the Republic, 
served three years, and in 
1840 retired from the 

bench and located in Galveston and entered the active practice 
of his profession. He represented Galveston in the Legisla- 
ture for four years. At the beginning of the Civil War, be- 
ing physically unfitted and too old for military service, he 
retired to his farm in Montgomery County, where he remain- 
ed until 1870, when he returned to Galveston. He died De- 
cember 25, 1873, just after being elected to the State Senate. 




198 



The History and Geography of Texas 



GRAY. 



Peter W. Gray was born at Fredericksburg, Virginia, April 
10, 1819, and removed with his father's family in 1837 to Hous- 
ton, Texas, where he was reared and educated. In 1846 he was 

a member of the First Legisla- 
ture of the State and later serv- 
ed many years as District Judge 
of the South Texas District. He 
was elected a member of the 
Confederate Congress and serv- 
ed throughout the Civil War. 
After the close of the war he re- 
turned to Houston and began the 
practice of law, and in a few 
years built up one of the largest 
practices in the South. In 1874 
he was appointed to the supreme bench, but he resigned on 
account of feeble health. He died in Houston, October 3, 1874. 
He was a scholar and highly cultured gentleman and a patron 
of letters; it was largely due to his financial and other aid 
that Mr. Yoakum was enabled to complete his excellent history 
of Texas. 

HANSFORD. 




Judge John M. Hansford came to Texas in 1837 and settled 
near Jonesville (Scottsville), in what is now Harrison County, 
and took a leading part in the politics of that section. In 1838 
he was elected to the lower house of the Congress of Texas from 
Shelby County and was chosen Speaker of that body. On Jan. 
31, 1840, he was appointed Judge of the Seventh Judicial Dis- 
trict of Texas and served in that capacity until Jan. 19, 1842, 
when he resigned. The "Regulator-Moderator War" was at 
its height during this period in that section, and Judge Hans- 
ford was not entirely able to steer his way clear through the 
warring factions. At one time he abandoned his court be- 
cause of the strength of the assembled mob. Articles of im- 



As Told in County Names 199 

peachment were at one time preferred against him, but to solve 
all difficulties he resigned his office and the articles were with- 
drawn. 

After leaving the bench, he retired to his farm near Jones- 
ville. In 1844, while he and his wife were absent, attending 
church one Sunday morning, a mob took possession of his place 
and demanded possession of some slaves he was holding un- 
der a writ of sequestration. Upon his refusal to comply with 
their demand he was shot and killed in the presence of his 
wife. 

HARTLEY. 

Oliver Cromwell Hartley was born in Bedford County, Penn- 
sylvania, March 31, 1823, and was educated in that state at 
Franklin and Marshall College, from which he graduated in 
1841, with the added honor of being the valedictorian of his 
class. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1844, 
In 1846 he came to Texas, landing at Galveston. He volun- 
teered as a private in the Mexican War and was later made 
a Lieutenant, but he was disabled in the summer of 1846 and 
returned to Galveston and began the practice of law. He then 
prepared a brief digest of the statutes of Texas, beginning the 
work in 1848, and in 1850 the Legislature subscribed for one 
thousand and five hundred copies. He was elected to the Leg- 
islature in 1851, and in that year was appointed reporter to 
the Supreme Court and held the office until his death in Gal- 
veston on the 13th day of January, 1859. In addition to his 
work as reporter he was, in 1854, appointed one of a commis- 
sion of three to codify the laws of Texas, 



200 



The History and Geography of Texas 



HEMPHILL. 



Judge Hemphill was born in Chester District, South Carolina, 
in 1809. He may be justly styled the "John Marshall" of Texas 
jurisprudence. He was educated at Jefferson College, Penn- 
sylvania, where he graduated 
in 1826. He came to Texas 
in 1838 and was made judge 
of the Fourth Judicial Dis- 
trict of Texas in 1841, and in 
1842 Chief Justice of the Re- 
public, and held the office un- 
til annexation. For a brief 
period in 1842, there being lit- 
tle business in the Supreme 
Court, he was appointed Ad- 
jutant General of Somervell's 
Expedition. He was Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court 
of the Republic in 1845, and 
then was elected a member of 
the first State Constitutional 
convention. After annexation he again held the office of Chief 
Justice. In 1857 he was elected United States Senator, and in 
1861 he was sent to the Confederate Congress. He died in 
Richmond, Va., in 1862. His body was brought back to Aus- 
tin and interred in the State cemetery. 




HUTCHINSON. 

K Anderson Hutchinson was born in Greenbrier County, Vir- 

ginia, in 1805. He removed to Knoxville, Tenn., in 1826, where 
he began the study and practice of law, and in a few years 
achieved a fine reputation at the bar. From Knoxville he re- 
moved to Raymond, Mississippi, in 1835. In 1840, with Vol- 
ney E. Howard, he published a digest of the laws of Mississippi, 
for which they were paid $10,000. He removed to Texas in 



As Told in County Names 201 

1841 and was soon made one of the District Judges of the Re- 
public. While engaged in holding court in San Antonio in Sep- 
tember, 1842, he was, with other officers of the court and citi- 
zens of San Antonio, surprised and captured by General Woll 
on his raid into Texas. He was carried to Castle Perote and 
subjected to great hardships, but was released in 1843. He 
returned to Mississippi and began his practice in copartner- 
ship with Henry S. Foote. He died there in 1853. 

LIPSCOMB. 

Abner S. Lipscomb was born February 10, 1789, in Abbeville 
District, South Carolina. He was educated in the common 
schools and studied law in the office of John C. Calhoun. In 
1811 he was licensed to practice 
law and removed to St. Steph- 
ens, Alabama, where he became 
a member of the territorial Leg- 
islature of Alabama, and at the 
age of thirty, one of the CircuJt 
Judges of the new state. In 1823 
he was made Chief Justice of the 
Supreme Court of the state and 
held the office eleven years. He 
resigned in 1835 and removed to 
Mobile, where he was again elect- 
ed to the Legislature. In 1839 he 
removed to Texas and immediate- 
ly secured a large clientage. At 
the urgent solicitation of Pres- 
ident Lamar he accepted a po-- 
sition of Secretary of State in his Cabinet. He was also 
elected a member of the first State Constitutional convention, 
in 1845. In 1846 Governor Henderson appointed him one of 
the Judges of the Supreme Court, which position he held for 
nearly eleven years. He died at Austin, November 30, 1856, 




202 The History and Geography of Texas 



MILLS. 

Hon. John T. Mills was born in County Antrim, Ireland, No- 
vember 12, 1817. He came with his parents to America and 
settled at Beach Island No. 3, Beaufort County, South Caro- 
lina, where he was educated and studied law. About 1837 he 
came to Texas and located at Clarksville, where he practiced 
law, and immediately took a leading position in the profession. 
Recognizing his eminent fitness for the bench, President La- 
mar appointed him Judge for the Third Judicial District of the 
Republic of Texas, January 23, 1839, but he resigned in De- 
cember, 1840. Upon the redistricting of the Republic he was 
again appointed District Judge of the Seventh District, Jan- 
uary 28, 1842, and served in that capacity until after annexa- 
tion, in 1845. On August 14, 1846, he was appointed Judge 
of the new Eighth District, which position he held for several 
terms. 

He was married in Clarksville, Texas, in 1843, to Mary 
Jane Vining, who died in 1854. He afterward married Mrs. 
Adair of Marshall, Texas, and removed to that city, where he 
resided until 1861. He then moved to his plantation on the 
Brazos River, in Robertson County, and lived there from 1861 
to 1865, and in the latter year moved back to Marshall and 
became associated with Judge W. B. Ochiltree in the practice 
of law. He died at Marshall November 30, 1871. Judge Mills 
was a consistent member of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
church, a Mason in high standing, and a profound lawyer. He 
was a liberal and public-spirited citizen, and aided in many 
benevolent enterprises. 



As Told in County Names 203 



OCHILTREE. 

W. B. Ochiltree was born in the vicinity of Fayettville, N. C, 
October 18, 1811. He moved to the territory of Florida when 
quite a youth, and there secured his education. In 1830 he re- 
moved to Alabama, was admitted to the bar and began the 
practice of law. In 1839 he came to Texas and located at Nac- 
ogdoches, where he soon obtained a large clientage. In 1842 
he was appointed District Judge of the Fifth Judicial District 
of the Republic. In 1844 he was appointed by President Jones 
as Secretary of the Treasury in his Cabinet, and early in 1845 
transferred to the office of Attorney General, and was the last 
Attorney General of the Republic of Texas. He was elected a 
delegate to the Constitutional convention of 1845, and after an- 
nexation was again appointed Judge of the Fifth District. He 
soon resigned, however, and achieved great success as a prac- 
titioner. He was known by the sobriquet of "Buffalo Head" 
on account of his very large head. He was one of the most 
prominent members of the Legislature in 1855. In 1859 he 
moved to Marshall, and was in the secession convention of 
1861, and was also a delegate to the Provisional Congress of 
the Southern Confederacy at Montgomery, Ala. He soon re- 
signed and raised a regiment and was attached to Walker's 
Division and led it with conspicuous gallantry. Owing to declin- 
ing health he resigned in 1863, returned home, and his health 
continuing to decline he died in Jefferson, Texas, December 
27, 1867. He was exceptionally profound and eloquent as a 
lawyer and discriminating as a Judge. 



204 



The History and Geography of Texas 



OLDHAM. 



-L^j- 



Williamson S. Oldham was born in Franklin County, Tenn., 
June 19, 1813; educated in the common schools of the country; 
taught school in Tennessee and became clerk of the District 

Court of Franklin County. Un- 
der the direction of Judge Na- 
than Green he studied law and 
obtained a license. In 1836 he 
moved to Fayetteville, Ark., and 
formed a partnership with S. 
G. Sneed. He was soon sent to 
the Legislature and elec ted 
Speaker of the House of Repre- 
sentatives of Arkansas, and in 
1844 was made one of the Jus- 
tices of the Supreme Court of 
that state. His health requiring 
a change of climate, he resigned 
in 1848 and in 1849 came to 
Texas and formed a partnership 
with General James Webb, former Attorney General. After- 
ward he formed a law partnership with J. F. Marshall and A. 
W. Terrell, and later with Judge White. In 1858 he and Judge 
White were employed by the State to digest the laws, and for 
the subsequent ten years Oldham & White's Digest was in uni- 
versal and almost exclusive use in Texas as a digest. In 1861 
he was a delegate to the Provisional Government of the South- 
ern Confederacy at Montgomery, Ala., and later became a mem- 
ber of the Confederate States Senate from Texas. At the close 
of the Civil War he went to Mexico, and upon the downfall of 
Maximilian started for Canada, but before reaching there he 
learned of the amnesty granted to officers in his position, and 
returned to Houston and began the practice of law and died 
there May 8, 1868. 




As Told in County Names 



205 



ROBERTS. 




This county was named for "John S. Roberts, and other distin- 
tinguished Texans by that name," by which it is presumed 
the Legislature meant "0. M. Roberts." John S. Roberts was 
born in Virginia in 1796 and re- 
moved to Louisiana in 1826, and 
came to Texas about 1833. He was 
a member of the Constitutional 
convention of 1836 and a signer of 
the Declaration of Independence. 
Oran Milo Roberts was born July 
9, 1815, in Laurens District, South 
Carolina. In early life he moved 
to Alabama, where he was edu- 
cated, graduating from the Uni- 
versity of Alabama and entering 
upon the profession of law in that 
state in 1838. He served one term 
in the Alabama Legislature. He came to Texas in 1841 and 
located in San Augustine and began the practice of his profes- 
sion. In 1844 he was appointed District Judge. After an- 
nexation he resumed the practice of law and continued in the 
practice until appointed to the position on the Supreme bench 
in 1857. He was later Colonel of a regiment in Walker's Di- 
vision, C. S. A. While in the army he was elected Chief Jus- 
tice of the Supreme Court and was relieved by the results of 
the war. In 1866 he was in the first Constitutional Convention ; 
was elected to the United States Senate, but was denied his 
seat. Upon his return from Washington he established a law 
school at Gilmer, Texas, and in 1874 was again appointed 
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. In 1878 he was 
nominated and elected Governor, and was re-elected in 1880. 
In 1883 he became law professor in the University of Texas 
and held the place until 1888, when, owing to the infirmities 
of age, he resigned. He died four years later in Austin, Texas. 



206 The History and Geography of Texas 



WEBB. 

General James Webb was born in Fairfax County, Virginia, 
in 1792. He received a liberal education in his native state, 
and was admitted to the bar there in 1816. He removed to 
Jones County, Georgia, in 1819, and to Florida in 1821. In 
1832 he was appointed United States District Judge for Flor- 
ida, holding court at Tallahassee and Key West. In 1838 he 
came to Texas and located in Houston. Shortly afterward he 
was made Attorney General, then Secretary of State, by Pres- 
ident Lamar, and was sent by him on a mission to Mexico. At 
the expiration of Lamar's term of office he located in Austin, 
and practiced law, and in 1841 was elected to the Senate. Upon 
the organization of the State judiciary he was appointed Judge 
of the Fourteenth District. He died November 1, 1856, while 
on his way to court at Goliad. 



As Told in County Names 



207 



WHEELER. 



Royal T, Wheeler was born in Vermont in 1810 and early 
in life moved with his father's family to Ohio, where he re- 
ceived a good education. In 1837 he moved to Fayetteville, 
Ark., where he formed a part- 
nership with W. S. Oldham. 
He soon afterward moved to 
Texas and began to practice 
law in partnership with Ken- 
neth L. Anderson. In 1842 
he was elected District Attor- 
ney and in 1844 to the Dis- 
trict bench. Upon the organ- 
ization of the State judiciary, 
in 1846, he was appointed one 
of the Associate Judges of the 
Supreme Court, and was suc- 
cessively re-elected until his 
death. In 1858, upon the elec- 
tion of Judge Hemphill to the 
United States Senate, he was 
made Chief Justice and held that position up to the time of 
his death, in Washington County, Texas. He died by his own 
hand, in a fit of mental abberation, April 9, 1864, in Washington 
County, Texas. 




208 The History and Geography of Texas 

CHAPTER XL 

COLONIZATION UNDER THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS. 

It was the policy of President Lamar to encourag"e the exten- 
sion of settlements on the frontier and beyond the settlements 
made under the laws of Coahuila and Texas, and with this in 
view, colonization laws were enacted in 1841 and subsequently, 
whereby Castro, Mercer, Peters, the German Emigration So- 
ciety and others introduced settlers. The only one of these 
empresarios, or contractors, whose name has found a place on 
the county map of Texas is Henry Castro. 

Henry Castro was born in France in 1786. After the fall 
of Napoleon Bonaparte he came to the United States, and in 
1827 became a naturalized citizen. Later he returned to 
France and in 1842 was Consul for the Republic of Texas at 
Paris. 

A contract was made by him with the Republic of Texas 
in 1841 to colonize the following territory: "Commencing at 
the Laredo crossing on the left bank of the Rio Frio ; thence 
along the Laredo road to the dividing ridge of the Rio Frio, 
and Rio Medina; thence with that range to a point twenty 
miles north of the upper Presidio-Rio Grande road ; thence in a 
direct line to the point of confluence of the Arroyo de Uvalde 
with the Rio Frio; thence down the left bank of the main 
branch of the Frio to the beginning." "Also a fourth part of 
a tract to the east bank of the Rio Grande, commencing at the 
Salt Lakes of the San Patricio (Hidalgo) five miles between 
the crossing of the road from the salt lakes to Comargo, and 
stretching upward along the left bank of the Rio Grande to a 
point ten miles above Dolores Ferry." 

At great labor and expense he succeeded in introducing 485 
families and 457 single men, between 1843 and 1845, and was in 
the midst of his work at annexation, over the protests of Mex- 
ico to France. In 1845 he settled the town of Quihi ; in 1846 
that of Vandersburg, and in the same year that of D'hanis, 



As Told in County Names 209 

and located his colonists in Medina, Frio, La Salle, McMullen 
and Uvalde. He was a man of large means and a publicist of 
international reputation. He was on his way to France when 
death overtook him at Monterey, Mexico in 1861. He was 
the founder of Castroville, in Medina County. His principal 
published works are his "Memoirs on Texas," in French and 
German, with maps, November 12, 1845, and his work on Mex- 
ico, For the locations of these and other colonies of the Repub- 
lic of Texas, see map of the Republic of Texas, swpra. 



14 



210 The History and Geography of Texas 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE ANNEXATION OF TEXAS AND THE MEXICAN WAR. 

After one of the most acrimonious contests in the history of 
American politics, Texas became a State of the Union in 1845. 

The sentiment in Texas in favor of the measure was prac- 
tically unanimous. 

The political parties in the Ignited States were divided upon 
the question, but it was decided in the Presidential election of 
1844, in which James K. Polk was elected President, and George 
M. Dallas, Vice-President. 

The states voting in favor of the measure were Maine, New 
Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Mich- 
igan, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri. Those voting against it 
were : Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
New Jersey, Ohio, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Ten- 
nessee, and Kentucky. 

Mexico was violently opposed to the measure and on several 
occasions previous to 1845 had, in most unmistakable terms, 
threatened to wage war against the United States in the event 
of annexation. 

The position of Mexico was that Texas was a part of that 
Republic, that the whole territory of Texas belonged to Mex- 
ico, — not simply that between the Nueces and the Rio Grande, 
but the whole territory extending to the Sabine; and that any 
attempt by the United States to take possession of it was rob- 
bery. 

President Polk's message of December 2, 1845, accurately 
and clearly stated the case of the United States in these words : 
"Texas has declared her independence and maintained it by 
her arms for more than nine years. She has had an organized 
government in successful operation during that period. Her 
separate existence as an independent state has been recognized 
by the United States and the principal powers of Europe. 
Treaties of commerce and navigation have been concluded by 



As Told in County Names 211 

different nations, and it has become manifest to the whole 
world that any further attempt on the part of Mexico to con- 
quer her or overthrow her government would be vain." 

The successive steps taken by Texas and the United States 
after the annexation resolution was approved by President 
Tyler, March 3, 1845, were: (1) The Congress of Texas was 
called to meet June 16th to consider the terms of annexation. 
On the 23rd the terms were accepted and a convention called to 
meet July 4th to ratify the terms of annexation and to frame 
a constitution for the State. (2) This was submitted to a vote 
of the people and ratified by a practically unanimous vote in 
October. (3) On the 29th of December the final act admitting 
Texas as a State was passed by the United States Congress. 

While these things were going on the steps taken by Mex- 
ico were: (1) The Mexican minister at Washington, on the 
7th of March, severed the friendly relations existing between 
the United States and Mexico by demanding his passports and 
leaving the country. (2) In May the Mexican Congress de- 
creed that a loan of two million dollars be negotiated to meet 
the expenses of what they called "the impending war." (3) 
On the 4th of June the President of Mexico decreed that Mex- 
ico would oppose with all the strength at her command, and 
would put the whole strength of her army in the field. (4) On 
the 12th of July the war minister issued a circular announc- 
ing that the government had decided on a declaration of war, 
and on the 16th he ordered the filling up of contingents of 
troops, "for the war which she wages against the United 
States." (5) On the 20th of July the supreme government of 
Mexico decided, with the unanimous consent of the Council, 
that "from the moment when the supreme government shall 
know that the department of Texas is annexed to the Ameri- 
can Union, or that troops from the Union have invaded it, it 
shall declare the nation at war with the United States." 

At this juncture the United States, upon the suggestion of 
Texas, ordered General Taylor to move his command from 
Western Louisiana to Corpus Christi, Texas, and he arrived 
there on August 12, 1845. After remaining six months at Cor- 
pus Christi he was ordered to proceed to the Rio Grande, but 



212 The History and Geography of Texas 

to make no attempt to occupy any place in possession of the 
Mexicans and to avoid any collision, if possible. Without meet- 
ing any opposition he reached the Rio Grande opposite Mata- 
moros in April, and immediately sent General Worth with a 
courteous note to the Mexican commander at Matamoros, ex- 
pressing the desire that their respective armies maintain peace- 
able relations pending any adjustment that might be reached 
by the civil authorities of their respective governments. He 
received a curt reply, stating that his movement was consid- 
ered an act of war. General Ampudia sent him a note a short 
time afterwards demanding that he move back beyond the 
Nueces. On the 26th of April a squadron of United States 
cavalry was ambushed and captured by a Mexican force that 
had crossed the river, and with this and the siege of Fort 
Brown and the battle of Palo Alto, on the 8th of May, the Mex- 
ican War began. 

No such question as a boundary line between Texas and Mex- 
ico, or between the United States and Mexico had ever been raised 
or disputed. After the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, the 
government of the United States and the State of Texas had a se- 
rious controversy as to the dominion of Texas over that part of 
New Mexico east of the Rio Grande, the United States contend- 
ing that the effort made by Texas in sending the Santa Fe 
Expedition there in 1841 and failing in its purpose, Texas had 
no right to claim that portion of the republic. After a long 
and angry controversy the matter was finally compromised in 
1850 by the United States paying to Texas ten million dollars for 
all of the territory claimed not within her present limits. 

In recognition of the services of the statesmen in the United 
States bringing about annexation and of soldiers who served 
in the Mexican War the Legislature of Texas named in their 
honor the following counties : 



Baylor 


Dallas 


Polk 


Walker 


Calhoun 


Gillespie 


Tyler 


Wise 


Cass 


Hays 


Upshur 





As Told in County Names 213 



BAYLOR. 

Dr. Henry W. Baylor was born near Paris, Kentucky, m 
1818. He attended the common schools of Paris, and later 
entered Transylvania University, taking both a literary and 
medical course. After his graduation he came to Texas and 
located in La Grange, where he practiced his profession, while 
occasionally he joined expeditions in pursuit of marauding 
Indians. He volunteered in the war with Mexico in 1846 and 
was surgeon of Hay's First Regiment. Upon the organization 
of Hay's Second Regiment he was chosen Captain of a com- 
pany and accompanied it in the campaign from Vera Cruz to 
the City of Mexico, participating in all its movements. When 
peace was declared and he saw his adopted State safe under 
the protection of the American flag, he returned to Texas and 
settled near Independence in Washington County, where he re- 
sumed the practice of his profession and engaged in farming 
until his death. He died August 4, 1854, and upon his tomb- 
stone is the inscription, "Keep my memory green." There were 
two younger brothers, John R. and George W. Baylor. Both 
brothers became noted in the Indian warfare that was kept up 
until the Civil War, and both rose to distinction in the War 
between the States. They were nephews of Hon. R. E, B. Tay- 
lor, a member of the United States Congress before coming to 
Texas, a District Judge of the Republic and State, and a dis- 
tinguished Baptist minister whose name is commemorated in 
Baylor University and Baylor Female College. 



214 



The History and Geography of Texas 



CALHOUN. 



John Caldwell Calhoun was born in Abbeville District (now 
county), South Carolina, March 18, 1782. His parents were 
Scotch-Irish and his father, a Revolutionary patriot, died soon 

after John C. was born. At- 
tending school at intervals, he 
began to prepare for college 
when eighteen years old. In 
two years he entered Yale 
College and after pursuing 
the course of study there was 
graduated with high honors. 
He studied law diligently for 
three years, a year and a half 
in the native state and a year 
and a half in Connecticutt. 
He began the practice of law 
in South Carolina and was 
soon elected to the State Leg- 
islature. In 1811 he was mar- 
ried and was elected to the United States Congress. Speaker 
Henry Clay immediately placed him upon an important com- 
mittee. During the war of 1812 he worked hard for the United 
States Army, and after the war favored a tariff to encourage 
home manufactures. President Monroe appointed him Sec- 
retary of State in his Cabinet. He was elected Vice President 
under John Quincy Adams, and again in 1828 under Jackson. 
In that year, what was called by Mr. Calhoun the "Tariff of 
Abominations," was enacted into law. In 1832, the nullifica- 
tion troubles took place, and in 1833, a compromise tariff bill 
was passed. 

In February, 1844, there being a vacancy in the Cabinet of 
President Tyler, Henry A. Wise suggested Calhoun to him, 
saying: ''Your most important work is the annexation of Tex- 
as, and the man for that work is Mr. Calhoun." Although not 
the choice of Tyler he was appointed to the position, and his 




As Told in County Names 215 

first act was to prepare a treaty of annexation. This treaty 
was rejected by the Senate. At the expiration of Pres- 
ident Tyler's term he again entered the United States Senate 
and continued in that position up to his death in Washington, 
D. C, March 31, 1850. 

He was one of the great triumvirate of the statesmen of the 
United States, a great thinker, and logician, orator and public- 
ist. He was the author of "A Disquisition on Government" and 
"The Constitution and Government of the United States," and 
other writings. While the treaty of annexation he prepared 
failed to pass the Senate, he had the satisfaction of seeing 
Texas safe in the Union soon afterward. 

CASS. 

General Lewis Cass was born in Exeter, N. H., October 9, 
1782. In 1799 he removed to Marietta, Ohio, where he studied 
law and in 1802 was admitted to the bar. He entered the 
United States army in 1812 as Col- 
onel of the Third Ohio Volunteers. 
He urged the invasion of Canada, 
crossed over and was in the battle 
of Toronto, and later was surrend- 
ered a prisoner at Detroit. He 
afterwards became Major General 
of Ohio Volunteers and Brigadier 
General of the United States 
Army. He was appointed Mili- 
tary Governor of Michigan and y| 
held that office from 1815 to 1831. 
He was appointed Secretary of 
State by President Jackson, and in 1836 Minister to France. 
He was elected United States Senator in 1841 and was a warm 
advocate of the annexation of Texas, carrying Michigan for 
that measure in 1844. He was nominated by the Democratic 
party for President in 1848, but was defeated by General Zach- 
ary Taylor. He was appointed Secretary of State in the Cab- 
inet of President Buchanan in 1857 and held the position un- 




!16 



The History and Geography of Texas 



til 1860. He died at Detroit, Michigan, June 6, 1868. He was 
the author of "An Inquiry Concerning the History, Traditions 
and Languages of the Indians in the United States," also of 
'France, Its King, Court and Government." 

DALLAS. 

George Mifflin Dallas was born in Philadelphia, July 10, 



1792. He was the son of Hon 
under President John Adams. 



A. J. Dallas, Secretary of State 
He graduated at Princeton Col- 
lege in 1810, and was admitted 
to the bar in Philadelphia. His 
father at that time being Sec- 
retary of the Treasury under 
Madison, he spent most of his 
time in assisting him. At the 
expiration of his father's term 
of office, he returned to Phila- 
delphia and actively and suc- 
cessfully engaged in practicing 
law. 

In 1825 he was elected Mayor 
of Philadelphia and in 1829 was 
elected District Attorney. He 
was elected to the United States 
Senate in 1831 and re-elected in 
1837, when he was appointed Minister to Russia. In 1844, 
being a leading advocate of the annexation of Texas, he was 
elected Vice President of the United States. He was appointed 
Minister to Great Britain in 1857 and served during the entire 
term of President Buchanan. In May, 1861, he returned to the 
United States and died in Philadelphia, December 31, 1864. 




GILLESPIE. 



This county was named for Richard Addison Gillespie, a 
native of Kentucky, who came to Texas in 1837, and began the 
business of merchandising. He was in the war of the Republic 



As Told in County Names 



217 



of the Rio Grande in 1839 ; in 1840, in the battle of Plum Creek ; 
and in 1841, a Lieutenant in Tom Green's company of rangers; 
was in Somervell campaign in 1842; was seriously wounded in 
an Indian fight in 1844, and in 1846 he was elected a Captain 
in Hay's Regiment. He greatly distinguished himself at Mont- 
erey, where he led a charge in which ten Mexican guns were 
captured. A few days later he was mortally wounded while 
leading a charge on the Bishop's Palace, September 22, 1846. 

HAYS. 



This county was named for John Coffee Hays, familiarly and 
affectionately known to old Texans as "Jack" Hays. This re- 
markable man was born on the 23rd day of February, 1817, on 
a farm in Wilson County, Tennessee, 
about twelve miles east of the "Her- 
mitage," the home of Andrew Jackson. 
He was reared in his native county 
with such educational opportunities as 
were then afforded, and at the age of 
fifteen he went to Mississippi and se- 
cured employment with surveyors and 
learned and adopted that profession. At 
the age of twenty he left Mississippi 
and came to Texas, and while waiting 
for the opening of the Land Office and 
the resumption of surveying lands, he 
joined the rangers, enlisted as a private, where his splendid 
qualities as a scout and a daring fighter soon attracted pub- 
lic attention to him. At intervals, he did some surveying, but 
upon the organization of a larger force of rangers in 1840, he 
was offered and accepted the captaincy of one of the com- 
panies. He was assigned to duty in Southwest Texas and pa- 
troled the basin of the Nueces from Corpus Christi to its head- 
waters. One of his first exploits was the pursuit of about 
two hundred Comanche horse thieves. With only twenty men 
he drove the Indians off and recovered the stolen horses. His 
defeat of the Mexicans at Laredo in 1841 and the services per- 




218 The History and Geography of Texas 

formed during- the Vasquez and Woll raids in 1842 are too 
familiar to the reader of Texas history to warrant special notice 
here. Upon the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1846, Hays was 
commissioned as Colonel of the first regiment of Texas' mounted 
troops and attached to General Taylor's army. He did conspicu- 
ous service at the capture of Monterey. In his report of the 
storming of the fort on Independence Hill, General Worth said : 
"The General feels assured that every individual in the command 
unites with him in admiration of the distinguished gallantry of 
Col. Hays and his noble followers. Hereafter they and we are 
brothers, and we can desire no better guaranty of success than 
by their association." His command being only six-month vol- 
unteers, he returned to Texas in the spring of 1847 and organ- 
ized another regiment. When the time came for assigning the 
regiment, it was divided; six companies under Lieut. Col. P. 
H. Bell were assigned to service on the Rio Grande; the other 
five were assigned to General Scott's army, and in the cam- 
paign against the City of Mexico won national fame. Hays' 
command was the last to leave the City of Mexico. He return- 
ed to Texas in 1848 and was mustered out of service. Later 
he received an important commission to New Mexico to deal 
with some of the delicate situations there, arising by reason 
of the opposing claims of the United States and Texas to that 
territory. He was again in New Mexico in 1849, and when the 
great gold excitement seized the people of Texas, he joined and 
was placed in charge of a large caravan to California. His 
fame preceded him there, and he was made sherifi" of San 
Francisco shortly after his arrival. The distorted condition 
of affairs in that embryo city required the services of just 
such a leader. He served four years in that capacity, and in 
1853 was appointed by President Pierce, Surveyor General of 
California. In the interim, he, with several others, pur- 
chased from Vicente Peralto a large Spanish grant on the 
opposite shore of the bay. After his appointment as Surveyor 
General, he moved to the land, laid out a city and named it 
"Oakland." After the expiration of his term as Surveyor 
General, his growing young city and his business interests 
required all his attention, and he retired from public life. He 



As Told in County Names 



219 



amassed considerable wealth ; was president of one bank and 
the largest stockholder of another, and built one of the most 
palatial homes in Alameda County. Besides these, he owned 
considerable real estate in Oakland. His last public service in 
politics was as a delegate to the National Democratic convention 
which nominated Samuel J. Tilden to the Presidency in 1876. 
He died April 25, 1883. His funeral was conducted under the 
auspices of the veterans of the Mexican War in San Francisco 
and Alameda County, the pioneer associations, and other mil- 
itary and civic organizations. 

POLK. 



James Knox Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North 
Carolina, November 2, 1795. His parents moved to Tennes- 
see in 1806, where he was reared and educated. In 1814 he 
entered the University of North 
Carolina at Chapel Hill and grad- 
uated from that institution in 
1818. He studied law and was 
admitted to the bar in 1820 and 
in 1823 was elected to the Legis- 
lature of Tennessee. In 1825 he 
was elected to the United States 
Congress and was a member of 
that body for fourteen years and 
for two years was Speaker of the 
lower house. 

On the expiration of his Con- 
gressional term he became the 
candidate of the Democratic party for Governor of Tennessee 
and was elected by twenty-five hundred majority, made two 
efforts for re-election but was defeated both times, and in 
May, 1844, was nominated for President at the convention 
held at Baltimore and was elected. His administration was a 
successful one. The annexation of Texas and the Mexican War 
soon followed, resulting in a treaty of peace extending the 
area of the United States to the Pacific Ocean. He declined 




220 



The History and Geography of Texas 



a renomination, after his term of four years, and retired to his 
home in Nashville, Tenn. He died and was buried there June 
15, 1849. 

TYLER. 



John Tyler was born at Greenway, near Charles City Court- 
house, Virginia, on the 29th day of March, 1790. He entered 
the grammar school of William and Mary College in 1803 and 

1804 entered William and 




m 



Mary College, from which he 
graduated in 1807, and upon 
reaching his majority he was 
elected to the Legislature of Vir- 
ginia and served in that capacity 
five years. In 1816 he was 
elected a member of the United 
States Congress and served two 
terms. In 1823 he was again 
elected to the state legislature 
and in 1825 was elected Gover- 
nor. In 1827 he was elected a 
Senator of the United States and 
re-elected in 1833. In 1835 he was again elected to the state 
legislature and in 1840 was elected Vice President -on the 
ticket with William Henry Harrison. By the death of President 
Harrison he became President of the United States and qual- 
ified as such April 6, 1841. The party which elected him was 
composed of all the elements hostile to Van Buren. His ad- 
ministration was a stormy one, but its climax was the signing 
the resolution for admitting Texas into the union of states. 
At the close of his term he retired to his estate near Williams- 
burg, Va. In February, 1861, he was called from retirement, 
selected a delegate to the peace congress, of which he was pres- 
ident, at Washington, was afterward elected delegate to the 
Virginia convention, which passed the ordinance of secession 
in April, 1861, and was then elected a member of the Confed- 



erate Senate. He died Jan. 17, 1862. 



As Told in County Names 221 



UPSHUR. 

Abel Packer Upshur was born in Northampton County, Vir- 
ginia, June 17, 1790. He was educated in the common schools 
and at William and Mary College and later at Princeton Col- 
lege. He studied law in the office of William Wirt and was 
admitted to the bar in 1812. He first settled in Richmond, 
Va., and practiced his profession there, but with a view to 
obtaining a seat in congress, he moved to Northampton, his na- 
tive county, on the eastern shore of Virginia. Failing in the 
election, he was afterward elected to the state legislature and 
there became highly distinguished as a debater and orator. He 
was a member of the state convention of 1829-30, to amend the 
Virginia constitution. His review of Judge Story's theory of 
constitutional law fixed his fame. He was judge of the court 
of appeals of Virginia for twelve years. In 1841 he became 
a member of Mr. Tyler's Cabinet as Secretary of State and 
in 1843 began negotiations for the annexation of Texas. He 
was killed by the explosion of a gun on the steamer Princeton, 
February 28, 1844. Wise in his "Seven Decades of the Union," 
says of him : "He was a finer rhetorician and orator than 
Webster and a closer logician, his style purer and his power 
of expression clearer." 

WALKER. 

Robert John Walker, in whose honor this county was named 
April 6, 1846, was born in Northumberland County, Pennsyl- 
vania, July 23, 1801. 

He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1819, 
studied law, and began the practice of his profession in 1822 
in Pittsburg, and remained there until 1826, when he moved 
to Mississippi, and located at Madisonville where he became 
eminent at the bar. 

He was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate 
in 1836, and was re-elected in 1842. He resigned his position 
in that body March 5, 1845, to accept the position of Secretary 



222 The History and Geography of Texas 

of the Treasury in the Cabinet of President Polk. He declin- 
ed the mission to China, tendered by President Pierce in 1853 ; 
was appointed Governor of Kansas April 10, 1857, but resign- 
ed in 1858 ; was financial agent of the United States in Europe 
in 1863, and 1864, where he negotiated a loan of $250,000,000, 
returned to the United States and acted in an advisory capacity 
to the government in financial matters, and died in Washing- 
ton, D. C, November 11, 1869. 

One of his first acts in the Senate was the introduction of a 
resolution acknowledging the independence of the Republic of 
Texas, He championed the resolution with great zeal and abil- 
ity, and it was finally adopted by a vote of 23 to 22, and ap- 
proved by President Jackson March 2, 1837, the first anniver- 
sary of Texas Independence. 

Messrs. Wharton and Hunt, in a letter to him, expressed on 
behalf of the people of Texas, their profound thanks for his 
great work and Hunt proposed to him that he would have a 
bust made for him and placed in the Capitol of Texas. 

In his reply, after modestly declining the offer, he wrote : "I 
marked with many a rising hope and ebbing fear, your trembl- 
ing solicitude and I beheld the overflowing joy, with which 
your bosoms throbbed when you saw our country inscribe the 
name of Texas on the scroll of independent nations. Your star 
is now beaming with all of the brightness of new born liberty. 

"The history of your struggle is a history of a series of ac- 
tions of commingled valor and clemency, worthy of your glor- 
ious parentage, unrivaled in moral sublimity which exalt and 
dignify the character of man. You are a child of our free 
institutions, the first born of that race, which carries onward 
and onward, our language, laws, and liberty throughout our 
old America. 

"Go on patriotic Americans; go on my countrymen, for such 
I call you ; go on noble and generous people, and may the great 
dispenser of the destiny of nations so order the course of 
events, that the single luminary, which now shines from your 
country's standards, be one of a great constellation of lights, 
beaming and burning, with our own red stars in perpetual 
brightness from the banner of the American Union." 



As Told in County Names 223 

From that time until nine years later, when the resolution to 
annex Texas to the Union was passed, he was instant in season 
and out of season in behalf of that consummation. No man in 
all of the Union was more exultant, when he read the elegant 
address of Anson Jones, the last President of the Republic of 
Texas, which, among other things, said, were the following: 

"The Lone Star of Texas, which, ten years since arose amid 
clouds, over fields of carnage, and obscurely seen for awhile 
has culminated, and following an inscrutable destiny has pass- 
ed on, and become fixed forever, in that glorious constellation, 
which all free men and lovers of freedom in the world must 
revere and adore, the American Union. Blending its rays with 
its sister states, long may it continue to shine, and may 
generous heaven smile upon the consummation of the wishes 
of the two republics now joined in one. May the Union be 
perpetual, and may it be the means of conferring benefits and 
blessings upon the people of all the states, is my ardent prayer. 

"The first act in the great drama is now performed. The 
Republic of Texas is no more." The Legislature of Texas adopt- 
ed the following joint resolution December 10, 1863. 

"Whereas it is the opinion of several persons in and out of 
the County of Walker, in this State, that said county was named 
in honor of Robert J. Walker, then a distinguished citizen 
of Mississippi, and who had rendered himself popular with the 
people of Texas by his warm advocacy of the annexation of 
Texas to the United States. 

"And whereas the said Robert J. Walker ungrateful to the 
people who honored him and nurtured him in political distinc- 
tion, had deserted that people, and leagued with Abraham 
Lincoln in his vain efforts to subjugate the Southern States, 
now struggling for their liberties and independence, thereby 
rendering his name odious to the people of Texas and to the 
Confederate States of America ; Therefore : 

"(1) Be it resolved by the State of Texas, that the County 
of Walker in this State be and the same is hereby named 
Walker County in honor of Captain Samuel H. Walker, the 
distinguished ranger, who fell in Mexico, while gallantly fight- 
ing for the rights of Texas, and that no honor shall attach to 



224 The History and Geography of Texas 

the name of Robert J. Walker, in consequence of a County in 
the State bearing the name of Walker, 

"(2) That this joint resolution take effect and be in force 
from and after its passage, approved December 10, 1863." 
When the Mexican War was imminent he devised a tariff sys- 
tem, which proved to be, probably, the most successful and pop- 
ular the United States have had before or since. It is widely 
known in the history of tariff legislation as the "Walker Tar- 
iff." Its main features contemplated a tariff for revenue only. 
With it the Mexican War was tided over without the issuance 
of a single bond. It brought large revenue and in ten years 
enabled the government to pay off four-fifths of the expenses 
of the Mexican War debt and almost paid the entire current 
expenses of administering the government. 

In 1857 he accepted the delicate responsibility involved in 
the office of Governor of Kansas. His official course met with 
a violent opposition from his party in the South, where he was 
denounced in various legislatures. This and the aid rendered 
the United States in negotiating a loan in Europe and after- 
wards acting in an advisory capacity in financial matters for 
the government of the United States during the Civil War were 
the occasion for the action of the Legislature of Texas above 
mentioned. 



As Told in County Names 



225 



WISE. 




Henry A. Wise was born at Drumnondtown on the eastern 
shore of Virginia on the third day of December, 1806. He was 
educated at Washington College, from which he graduated in 
1826. After serving a term in 
the state legislature, he was 
elected to the United States con- 
gress and served eleven years, 
consecutively. He was in the 
midst of the storm of the Jack- 
son administration and was the 
leader of the Whig minority dur- 
ing Tyler's administration. He 
was a zealous advocate of the an- 
nexation of Texas, championing 
the cause and defending the peo- 
ple of Texas from the fierce onslaughts of her enemies in con- 
gress. He was appointed minister to France in 1842, but the 
Whig majority of the senate refused to confirm his appoint- 
ment. He was appointed minister to Brazil in 1844 and the 
appointment was confirmed. In 1855 he was nominated for 
Governor of Virginia and in the canvass achieved a national 
fame in his speeches against Know-Nothingism. He was elect- 
ed governor and was such when John Brown was captured, 
imprisoned, tried and hung for murder. He was a member 
of the peace congress in February, 1861, and when all hope 
for peace was at an end he was elected delegate to the con- 
vention which passed the ordinance of secession in April, 1861. 
He then joined the Confederate army, and was made brigadier 
general. After the war he located in Richmond, Virginia, and 
died there, September 12, 1876. 

He was a forcible debator and orator, and many of his epi- 
gramatic sentences have come down to us. He was the author 
of ''Seven Decades of the Union," and a "Memoir of John Tyler," 
two most entertaining works, which deserve to be read for the 
light they give on the periods of which they treat. 

IS 



226 The History and Geography of Texas 



CHAPTER XIII. 

After the termination of the Mexican War and the signing 
of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the United States station- 
ed troops in Texas and built a cordon of forts along the fron- 
tier. Settlements grew up around them in many places and 
towns sprang up which have taken their names, i. e., Fort Worth, 
Fort Davis, etc., but no county name commemorates that fea- 
ture of our history except Mason. 



MASON. 

Fort Mason was established July 6, 1851, by Companies A. 
and B. of the Second Dragoons, under the command of Cap- 
tain Hamilton H. Merrill. The fort was named Mason after 
Richard B. Mason, who was born in Fairfax County, Virginia, 
January 16, 1791. He was a grandson of the Revolutionary 
statesman, George Mason. He entered the army as second 
lieutenant of the infantry, September 2, 1817, was immediate- 
ly advanced to the rank of First Lieutenant, and on the 31st of 
July 1818 advanced to the rank of Captain. On March 4, 1833, 
he was appointed Major of the First Dragoons, and on the 4th of 
July, 1836, made Lieutenant Colonel, and then Colonel, June 30, 
1846. He reached the rank of Brigadier General May 30, 1846. 
He took part in the Black Hawk War, and during the war with 
Mexico was stationed in California, where he acted as civil and 
military governor until superseded by General J. W. Reilly. He 
died in St. Louis, Mo., June 26, 1850. 

The village and settlement grew up around Fort Mason, and 
when the fort was abandoned and the county organized, it re- 
tained the name, and the county was given the same name. 



As Told in County Names 227 



CHAPTER XIV. 

statesmen, jurists, journalists, historians, ministers, and 
others who are commemorated on our county map : 

1. Brooks 7. Jim Wells 12. Runnels 

2. Coke 8. Kendall 13. Schleicher 

3. Crane 9. Morris 14. Terrell 

4. Culberson 10. Reagan 15. Willacy 

5. Foard 11. Real 16. Yoakum 



6. Jim Hogg 



BROOKS. 



Hon. J. S. Brooks was born on a farm near Paris, Kentucky, 
November 30, 1855, and received a common school education. 
He came to Texas in January, 1877, was employed as a cow- 
boy in the spring of that year and went up the trail to the 
northeast with cattle. In 1880 he located in San Antonio, en- 
listed as a ranger in 1882 and continued in that service until 
1906, rising to the rank of Captain. In 1906 he resigned and 
located at Falfurrias and engaged in farming and stock rais- 
ing. In 1911, when a new county was created, he was elected 
to the Thirty-First and Thirty-Second Legislature. He still 
(1912) lives in the county that bears his name. 



228 



The History and Geography of Texas 



COKE. 



Richard Coke was born in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1829. 

He was educated at William and Mary College, graduated in 

1849, and studied law. He came to Texas in 1850 and located 

in Waco, a town at that time less 
than one year old, and continued to 
practice law there up to 1861, 
when he joined the Confederate 
Army. He was appointed District 
Judge in 1865, and in 1866 one of 
the Associate Justices of the Su- 
preme Court. In 1873 he was 
elected Governor and re-elected in 
1875. In 1877 he was elected to 
the United States Senate and was 

successfully re-elected, and held the office up to his death in 

1896. 




CRANE. 



William Cary Crane was born in Richmond, Va., March 17, 
1816, and was a lineal descendant of Robert Treat, Governor 
of Connecticutt. In early boyhood he was sent to a boarding 
school in King William County, Virginia, six miles from Han- 
over Court House. At the age of fifteen he was sent to Mount 
Pleasant Academy in Massachusetts. He joined the Baptist 
Church and was baptized at Richmond, Virginia, July 27, 1832, 
and afterward attended the Richmond College and Columbia 
College in Washington and was also a student at Hamilton 
College, now Colgate University. He then went to Talbotton, 
Georgia, where he taught school and was pastor of the church 
there. On June 18, 1838, he was married, ordained to the full 
work of the ministry in Baltimore and engaged as pastor of 
the church in Montgomery, Alabama. He lost his voice in 1839 
and in 1842 returned to Virginia and traveled for the Ameri- 
can Tract Society; for a short time he was employed as editor 



As Told in County Names 



229 



of the Baptist Recorder at Nashville, Tenn. In July, 1844, he 
was called to the Baptist Church at Columbus, Miss., where he 
remained three years. From there he removed to Vicksburg, 
and from there was called to the presidency of the Mississippi 
Female College at Hornado, serving from 1857 to 1860. Later 
he became president of Simple Broadway College at Jackson, 
where he also edited a Baptist paper. From there he was call- 
ed to the presidency of the college in Louisiana, and in 1863 
was called to the Presidency of Baylor University at Independ- 
ence, Texas. He died at Independence, Texas, February 26, 1885. 
He was a voluminous writer, his last and principal work being 
"The Life and Literary Remains of General Sam Houston." 



CULBERSON. 



David B. Culberson was born in Troupe County, Georgia, 
September 29, 1830. He was educated at La Grange, Georgia; 
removed to Alabama and studied law under Chief Justice Chil- 
ton, and removed to Texas in 
1856, locating at Jefferson. He 
was elected a member of the Leg- 
islature in 1859. He entered the 
Confederate Army as a private 
and rose to the rank of Colonel of 
the Eighteenth Texas Infantry. 
He w^as appointed Adjutant Gen- 
eral of Texas November 17, 1863, 
and served one year, when he was 
elected to the Legislature and was 
a member of that body when the 
war closed in 1865. After the war 
he resumed the practice of law at 

Jefferson and in 1873 was elected State Senator. In 1878 he was 
elected Representative in Congress from the Fourth District of 
Texas and by successive re-elections served as a member of Con- 
gress until 1902, when he retired and died at Jefferson in 1903. 
He was chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the lower house 




230 The History and Geography of Texas 

for several terms and achieved a nation wide fame as a constitu- 
tional lawyer. At the time of his death he was one of the Commis- 
sioners to revise the United States Criminal Code, under appoint- 
ment of President McKinlev. 



FOARD. 

Robert J. Foard was born in Cecil County, Maryland, in 
1827. He was a nephew of Senator Bayard of Deleware. He 
graduated at Princeton College and thereafter came to Texas. 
He located at Columbus, in Colorado County, and immediately 
took a leading position at the bar. At the beginning of the 
Civil War in 1861 he enlisted and rose to the rank of Major. 
At the conclusion of the war he resumed his profession and 
continued in the practice up to his death in 1898. He was a law- 
yer of great ability and one of the kindest, most charitable, 
modest, and reserved men of his generation. This county was 
named in his honor by his junior partner while a member of 
the Senate, in recognition of his great qualities, professional 
and social, and entirely without solicitation or suggestion from 
Major Foard. 



As Told in County Names 



231 



JIM HOGG. 



This county was named in honor of James Stephen Hogg, 
who was born in Cherokee County, Texas, March 24, 1851. 
He was a son of General James Lewis Hogg, a Brigadier 
General of the Confederate 
Army, who died at Corinth, 
Mississippi, in 1864. General 
Hogg had been a conspicuous 
figure in the politics of Texas 
since the days of the Republic. 
He came to Texas in 1839, and 
in 1843 represented his district 
in the Congress of the Republic. 
He was a member of the Consti- 
tutional Convention of 1845 and 
State Senator in 1846. He en- 
tered the Volunteer Army of the 
United States and served in the 
Mexican War. Upon his return 
to Texas he was again elected 
to the Legislature and in 1861 
was a member of the Secession 
Convention. After his death his son, James Stephen Hogg, en- 
tered a printing office at Tyler, and later established a news- 
paper at Longview, which he removed to Quitman, in Wood 
County and there established the Quitman News. He served 
as Justice of Peace from 1873 to 1876, studied law and was 
admitted to the bar in 1875, and in 1878 was elected County 
Attorney. Two years later he was elected District Attorney 
of the Seventh Judicial District composed of the counties of 
Gregg, Rains, Smith, Upshur and Wood, and while acting in 
that capacity moved to Tyler, Texas, and at the expiration of 
his term began the practice of law. In 1886 he was nominated by 
the Democrats of the State for the office of Attorney General, 
He held this office for two terms and in 1890 was nominated 
and elected Governor of Texas. He served two terms as Gov- 




232 The History and Geography of Texas 

ernor and when his last term expired, began practicing law 
in Austin, Texas. Later he removed to Houston and practiced 
his profession there up to the time of his death, March 7, 1906. 
From the time he entered State politics in 1886, up to his re- 
tirement as Governor his career was rather a stormy one. 

He instituted many wholesome reforms in the public policies 
of the state, in the face of strenuous opposition by the more 
conservative element of the Democratic party, so that in 1892 
the convention which met at Houston divided, the conservative 
element withdrew and nominated a full state ticket in op- 
position. There followed perhaps the most noted political cam- 
paign in the history of Texas, but he was triumphantly elect- 
ed by a large majority. Among the most important reforma- 
tory laws were those restricting alien ownership of land, the 
regulation of railroads by commission, and the prevention of 
the issuance of fictitious bonds and the restriction upon the issue 
of all bonds by corporations. He was the most conspicuous lead- 
er in the life of progressing democracy in Texas. He was buried 
in the City Cemetery at Austin. 



JIM WELLS. 

Hon. James B. Wells was born on St. Joseph Island, Aran- 
sas Bay, about the year 1852, his father having been in the 
naval employment of the United States at the time of his birth. 
He obtained a good education, and in 1873 entered the law de- 
partment of the University of Virginia, where he graduated 
in 1874. He located at Rockport and practiced law for a time 
and then moved to Brownsville, where he has since lived. 

He is a prominent lawyer, and although he has taken active 
interest in the politics of the State he has never held any po- 
litical office. He was for several years a District Judge in that 
district by appointment, and after serving one term resumed 
his practice at Brownsville. 



As Told in County Names 



233 



KENDALL. 



George Wilkins Kendall was born on the 22nd day of August, 
1809, in the village of Mount Vernon, New Hampshire, about 
five miles from the, then, small village of Amherst, the birth- 
place of Horace Greeley. 

He was of Puritan ancestry, 
both parents having descended 
from early settlers who came 
to New England previous to 
1630. His father served, as a 
soldier in both wars against 
Great Britain. 

About the year 1827, he went 
to New York City and learned 
the art of printing with Horace 
Greeley, who had just become 
a journeyman printer. Kendall 
afterwards went to Boston, but 
remained only a short time, 
when he drifted south and ob- 
tained employment as a printer, 
on the Raleigh Register, owned 
by Seaton and Gales. Here he met E. A. Lumsden, his fu- 
ture partner, who was employed on the Register, and both left 
and went to Washington, D. C, where they were employed on 
the National Intelligencer. In 1882, Lumsden left Washington 
and came to New Orleans and Kendall came a few years later. 
In 1836 they formed a partnership under the firm name of 
Lumsden and Kendall, and on the 25th of January, 1837, issued 
the first number of the New Orleans Picayune, the whole value 
of the plant at the beginning, not exceeding four hundred dol- 
lars. It grew rapidly in public favor, and in a few years was 
one of the leading newspapers in New Orleans. 

In 1841, when Kendall learned of the contemplated expedi- 
tion to Santa Fe, desiring to see the country and report his 
observations to the Picayune, he set out from New Orleans to 




234 The History and Geography of Texas 

Texas and arrived in time to join the expedition, on June 28th, 
1841. He was taken prisoner and suffered all the hardships of 
the Texans for about two years, although he was a citizen of 
the United States, and his mission that of a newspaper cor- 
respondent only. 

After his release from prison he returned to New Orleans to 
resume work on the Picayune. His contributions to this pa- 
per on his adventures created a widespread demand for their 
publication in book form. The result was his publication of 
the "Santa Fe Expedition," by Harper Bros., in 1844, and an- 
other edition in London in 1845. It consisted of two volumes, 
and within eight years forty thousand copies were sold, accord- 
ing to a note in "Raines' Bibliography of Texas." Although 
this assured him an ample fortune, he was ready and anxious 
to accompany the United States army into Mexico, and in 
1846 he promptly attached himself to General Taylor's army on 
the Rio Grande, and was tendered by General Taylor a position 
on his staff. He actively participated in the battles of Taylor's 
campaign, and after the battle of Buena Vista joined General 
Scott's army at Vera Cruz and accompanied it as aide-de-camp 
of General Worth, captured a Mexican flag during a charge in 
one of the main engagements, and was complimented in an es- 
pecial manner. This flag was on exhibition at the New Or- 
leans Exposition in 1884. 

These battles were reported to the Picayune in a most vivid 
manner. Becoming enamored of the climate of Western Texas 
he made his home at New Braunfels, where he carefully com- 
piled accounts of the principal battles of the Mexican War. He 
then went to Paris, France, and engaged a celebrated artist to 
illustrate his work. While in Paris he met Miss Adeline de 
Valcourt, a lady of rare accomplishments and great beauty. 
They were married in 1854, and made an extensive tour of Eu- 
rope, and never losing an opportunity of giving the benefit of his 
observations, he sent vivid letters to the Picayune. 

The building occupied by the Picayune was destroyed by fire 
in 1850. It had then grown to be easily the leading paper of 
the South. A new four story building of solid granite was 
erected in its stead. Upon his return with his bride after a 



As Told in County Names 235 

short stay in New Orleans, devoting his time to the interests of 
the paper, he returned to Texas and made his home at New 
Braunfels. In 1857 he purchased a large tract of land situ- 
ated in what is now Kendall County, about twenty-five miles 
northwest of San Antonio, to which he moved with his family in 
1857 and improved it according to his own taste, regardless 
of expense. Here he spent the remainder of his days, going 
back and forth to New Orleans in the interest of the Picayune, 
in which he retained a proprietary interest. He engaged in 
farming on a small scale, and in live stock. He spared no ex- 
pense in introducing into Texas the best bred animals of 
Europe, principally sheep, and soon became the most success- 
ful sheep raiser in the Southwest. He contributed many ar- 
ticles to the Picayune, and the Texas Almanac on farming and 
live stock. 

He was urged by friends to allow the use of his name as a 
candidate for Governor, but promptly declined to enter the po- 
litical arena. Being past the age of fifty at the beginning of 
the Civil War, he remained on his ranch during the conflict, 
and took no part in it, directly or indirectly. His communica- 
tion was cut off from the Picayune during the latter half of the 
period. 

He devoted most of his means and time to supplying the 
needs of families of men absent in the Confederate Army, and 
organized and armed the old men and boys of the region for 
protection against marauding Indians. 

At the first opportunity after war was over, he went to New 
Orleans, to find the equipment of the Picayune much run down, 
and immediately went to New York and purchased a new out- 
fit. While on this visit he saw Horace Greeley, who warmly 
received him and entertained him while in the city. He then 
visited the scenes of his boyhood in Hillsboro County, New 
Hampshire, where he met his kinsman and old friend of the 
Mexican War memory, ex-President Pierce, living in quiet re- 
tirement. 

He then returned to Texas and died on his ranch, October 21, 
1867, and was buried there. His partnership in the Picayune 



236 



The History and Geography of Texas 



continued for more than forty years. The paper survived un- 
til April 25, 1914. 

Upon his tomb is inscribed, "He was Poet, Journalist, Au- 
thor and farmer ; eminent in all." He lived to see his name hon- 
ored by the creation of Kendall County in 1862. 

MORRIS. 






\ 



W. W. Morris was born in Halifax County, North Carolina, 
in 1805, and he was there reared and educated. About the year 
1840 he removed to Alabama, where he taught school and 

studied law. After practicing- 
his profession in that state he 
came to Texas, in 1849, and lo- 
cated near Henderson, in Rusk 
County. He practiced in the 
courts of Marshall, Gilmer, Quit- 
man, Nacogdoches, San Augus- 
tine, Carthage and adjoining 
counties, and in the higher 
courts of Texas. He served two 
terms in the Legislature, and in 
his later years gave much of his 
time and money to the construc- 
tion of railways in that part of 
Texas. He died at his home near 
Henderson, in Rusk County, June 3, 1883. 

The writer's authority for the naming of this county for 
Hon. W. W. Morris is Sayles, in a note to the article on coun- 
ties and county boundaries. Since it has been stoutly contended 
that the county was named for another eminent jurist, and 
since there is nothing in the act creating the county to deter- 
mine the matter, a sketch of Hon. Richard Morris is given. 

Richard Morris was born in Hanover County, Virginia, De- 
cember 27, 1815; was educated at the Brooks High School in 
Richmond and in the University of Virginia and admitted to the 
bar of that state in 1838, and in the same year came to Texas 
and located at Galveston. In the fall of 1841 President Lamar 




As Told in County Names 



237 



appointed him to the office of District Judge, which at the time 
made him a member of the Supreme Court ex-officio. He died 
August 19, 1844, during an epidemic of yellow fever in Gal- 
veston. 

REAGAN. 



John H. Reagan was born October 8, 1818, in Sevier County, 
Tennessee. He was a student at Nancy Academy, Sevierville, 
Boyd's Creek Academy, and at the Southwestern Seminary at 
Marysville. He came to 
Texas in 1839, joined 
General Rusk's regiment 
and, July 15 and 16, par- 
ticipated in the battles 
with the Cherokees and 
other Indians. In the fall 
of 1839 he was appointed 
deputy surveyor in that 
land district and held the 
position four years, al- 
ternating his duties as 
surveyor with work as a 
tutor for the children of 
a private family. He was elected Captain in the militia and 
Justice of the Peace in 1842. In 1843 he was with General Tar- 
rant in an expedition to the cross timbers against the Indians, 
and in the same year was Captain of a company organized to 
suppress the trouble between the Regulators and Moderators in 
East Texas. He engaged in farming and stock raising in Kauf- 
man County in 1844, at which time, having studied law, he ob- 
tained a temporary license to practice. When the County of 
Henderson was organized he was elected Chief Justice of the 
county and Lieutenant Colonel of the militia, and in 1847 was 
elected to the Legislature. In 1849 he was given full license 
to practice law and was in the active practice until 1852, when 
he was elected District Judge for a term of six years. While 
holding court at Kaufman he was prevailed upon to accept the 




238 The History and Geography of Texas 

nomination for a seat in the United States Congress, with Judge 
Lemuel Dale Evans for an opponent on the Know-Nothing 
ticket. There ensued one of the most exciting canvasses in the 
political history of the State. He was triumphantly elected. 
He was re-elected in 1859 and was in the discharge of his duties 
when the Civil War began. He was a delegate to the State 
Secession Convention in 1861, and was at the Provisional Con- 
gress which met at Montgomery, on March 6, 1861. He was 
chosen Postmaster General of the Southern Confederacy and 
held that position until 1865. After abandoning Richmond he 
and other members of the official family of Jefferson Davis 
were pursued and captured by Federal troops near Irwinville, 
Ga. He was imprisoned in Fort Warren, in Boston harbor, and 
was released in the summer of 1865. He returned to Texas and 
went to work at manual labor on his farm. While so engaged 
he was tendered the position of Military Governor of Texas, 
but declined. Upon the restoration of the courts he resumed 
the practice of law at Palestine. His political disabilities hav- 
ing been removed he was elected to Congress in 1874 and was a 
member of the Constitutional convention in 1875. He was suc- 
cessively re-elected to Congress from 1874 to 1888, and was 
elected to the United States Senate in 1887. He took the lead 
while in Congress in the interstate commerce legislation, and at 
the earnest request of Governor Hogg, accepted the chairmanship 
of the Railroad Commission of Texas. He voluntarily retired 
from political life in 1903, went to his home at Palestine and 
spent the remainder of his life in writing his "Memoirs." He 
died on his plantation in the suburbs of Palestine March 6, 1905. 



REAL. 

This county was named in honor of Justus Real, Senator rep- 
resenting the Twenty-fourth Senatorial District of Texas, com- 
posed of the counties of Bexar, Bandera, Kendall, Kerr, and 
Gillespie. He was born in Kerr County, Texas, May 7, 1860. 
After taking advantage of such educational opportunities as this 
part of the sparsely settled county afforded he entered the 



As Told in County Names 239 

Southwestern University of Georgetown, Texas, and attended 
the sessions of 1883 and 1884. Since that time he has been a 
successful business man and in 1911 was elected to the State 
Senate as a Republican against a popular Democrat. 

RUNNELS. 

Hiram G. Runnels was born in Hancock County, Georgia, 
December 17, 1796. He moved to Mississippi Territory at an 
early age and taught school. He served for a short time in 
the army, fighting Indians, In 1817-18 he was a member of 
the convention that framed the first Constitution of the State 
of Mississippi. In 1822 he was elected Auditor of Public Ac- 
counts and served several years in that capacity. In 1829 he 
was elected to the Mississippi Legislature, and in 1830 was 
appointed receiver of public revenues. In 1831 he was a candi- 
date for Governor, but was defeated by a small majority; he 
was again a candidate for Governor in 1833 and was elected. 
In 1835 he was a candidate for re-election and defeated. In 
1836 he became president of the Union Bank for a year, and for 
some animadversion upon his management he caned Governor 
McNutt upon the streets of Jackson. For a similar reason he 
fought a duel with Volney E. Howard, editor of the Mississip- 
pian, in 1840. In 1842 he came to Texas and engaged in plant- 
ing on the Brazos. Later he represented Brazoria and Galves- 
ton Counties in the State Senate. He moved to Houston about 
the year 1855 and was again elected to the State Senate. He 
died in Houston, Texas, December 17, 1857, and was buried in 
Glenwood Cemetery in that city. 



240 



The History and Geography of Texas 



SCHLEICHER. 




Gustave Schleicher was born in Darmstadt, Germany, No- 
vember 29, 1823. He was educated at the University of Gies- 
sen and chose the profession of civil engineer, and after grad- 
uation was engaged in several 
works of internal improvement 
in Europe. In 1847, in company 
with thirty-nine former students 
of German unive r s i t i e s, he 
formed what was known as the 
"Colony of Forty," and pur- 
chased a large body of land in 
what is now Llano and other 
counties, where they engaged in 
farming and stock raising upon 
the most scientific methods; but 
the location was then beyond the 
settled portion of the country, 
and Indian depredations and 
other causes soon rendered the enterprise impracticable. With 
a number of his associates he moved to San Antonio in 1850, 
and there he soon mastered the English language, and in 1853 
was elected a member of the lower house of the Legislature, 
more to get an inside view of American institutions and cus- 
toms than for any honor or emolument on his part. At the 
close of his term, in 1854, he was chosen surveyor of the Bexar 
land district, an area of country larger than New England. 
After serving in this capacity five years he was, in 1859, 
elected a member of the State Senate. When the Civil War 
began, in 1861, he entered the engineer corps and served in the 
Confederate Army with the rank of Captain throughout the 
war. At the close of the war he engaged in railroad work, lay- 
ing out and superintending the construction of the railroad 
from Cuero to Indianola. He was elected to the Forty-fourth 
Congress, re-elected to the Forty-fifth and again to the Forty- 
sixth. He died January 10, 1879, in Washington, D. C. His 
remains were removed to San Antonio and buried there. 



As Told in County Names 



241 



He was one of the most cultured men in the history of Texas. 
Being a close student of political economy, his carefully pre- 
pared addresses were always educative and upon a high plane 
and models of literary form. In summing up his qualities, 
President Garfield said, "He has done justice to the scholarship 
which Germany gave him and the large and comprehensive 
ideas with which life in the new world inspired him." Senator 
Bayard of Delaware said of him : "It has been said to me more 
than once how admirable would Schleicher have been as a Cab- 
inet officer, and what a loss to our country it is that his powers 
and talents for administration could not have been exempli- 
fied in the highest office of the government." 



TERRELL. 

Alexander Watkins Terrell was born in Patrick County, Vir- 
ginia, November 23, 1827. His parents moved to Cooper 
County, Missouri, in 1832, and he obtained his primary edu- 
cation there. He entered the 
University of Missouri and, fin- 
ishing his course there, he began 
the study of law at Booneville 
and was admitted to the bar in 
1848. He located at St. Joseph 
and practiced law until 1852, 
when he came to Texas and lo- 
cated at Austin. Five years later 
he was elected District Judge of 
the Second District; served as 
such until his term expired. Be- 
ing a judicial officer, he took no 
prominent part in the political 
agitation immediately preceding 

the secession of the State. At the expiration of his second term 
as District Judge, in 1863, he entered the Confederate Army as 
Lieutenant Colonel of the Thirty-fourth Texas Regiment (cav- 
alry) and was soon promoted to the rank of Colonel and com- 
manded the regiment until near the close of the war, partici- 
pating in the battles of Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, and other en- 

16 




242 The History and Geography of Texas 

gagements in the campaign against Banks, in Louisiana. In 
1865 he was promoted to the position of Brigadier General, 
and was in command of a brigade at the close of the war. In 
company with General Magruder and many other prominent 
Confederates he went to Mexico, but soon returned. He en- 
tered the practice of law at Houston, but owing to the unsettled 
condition of the courts he retired to his plantation on the 
Brazos, in Robertson County, and for four years was eminently 
successful as a planter with the new system of free labor. In 
1872 he moved to Austin and formed a partnership with Judge 
A. S. Walker in the practice of law. In 1875 he was selected 
to the State Senate and re-elected in 1879 and 1882. At the 
urgent solicitation of his fellow citizens he was later elected 
as a member of the lower house of the Legislature, in all serv- 
ing sixteen years as a legislator. He was the author of many 
of the most salutary laws now on our statute books, two of the 
most conspicuous and far-reaching being our jury law and what 
is known as the "Terrell Election Law." His portrait hangs in 
the Hall of Representatives at the State Capitol. By a standing 
vote of that body, in presenting his portrait, the chairman of 
the Judiciary Committee voiced the sentiment of the people of 
Texas when, among other things, he said. "Judge Terrell has 
been the author of more good laws for Texas than any other 
man, living or dead." Besides his active career as a lawmaker, 
he was for some years reporter of the Supreme Court decisions, 
and reported the decisions of that court embraced in Volumes 
52 to 76 inclusive, and in connection with Judge A. S. Walker, 
in Volumes 38 to 51, inclusive. During the last administration 
of President Cleveland he represented the United States as 
Minister to Turkey. He died while on a visit to Mineral Wells, 
Texas, September 9, 1912, and was buried in Austin. 

WILLACY. 

This county was named in honor of J. G. Willacy, who was 
born in Kentucky. He removed to Texas and located at Cor- 
pus Christi. He represented this district in the lower house of 
the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Legislatures, and the 
Senate in the Thirtieth, Thirty-first, Thirty-second and Thirty- 
fifth Legislatures. He is a farmer. 



As Told in Couniy Names 



243 



YOAKUM. 



Henderson Yoakum was born in Claiborne County, Tennessee, 
September 6, 1810. He studied in the common schools until 
prepared to take a collegiate course, and on July 1, 1828, en- 
tered the United States Military 
Academy at West Point. He 
graduated and was made a bre- 
vet Second Lieutenant July 1, 
1832. After serving in the Black 
Hawk expedition he resigned 
from the army March 31, 1832, 
and was married in the same 
year in Roane County, Tennes- 
see, and removed to Murfrees- 
boro, where he studied law and 
entered the active practice of the 
profession. In 1836 he entered 
the military service again as 
Captain of a company in Gen- 
eral Gaines' command in Louisi- 
ana. In 1839 he was elected to 
the State Senate of Tennessee. 
In October, 1848, he came to 

Texas and located at Huntsville. In May, 1846, he enlisted in 
a company of riflemen and was elected First Lieutenant. He 
went to the front and served throughout General Taylor's cam- 
paign in the Mexican War. At the close of the Mexican War 
he returned to Huntsville and resumed the practice of law. In 
1853 he established a country home a few miles from Hunts- 
ville and devoted himself to completing his history of Texas. 
In November, 1855, he visited Houston for the purpose of de- 
livering a Masonic address, and on the 30th of that month died 
suddenly at the old Capitol building. "Yoakum's History of 
Texas" is known and consulted by writers of history the world 
over, and regarded as the standard for the period which it 
covers. 




244 



The History and Geography of Texas 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE WAR BETWEEN THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN 
SECTIONS OF THE UNION— 1861-1865. 




CONFEDERATE MONUMENT, CAPITOL GROUNDS, AUSTIN, TEX. 

The soldiers and statesmen of the Southern Confederacy who 
have been honored by county names are : 



Camp 


Lee 


Stonewall 


Val Verde 


Ector 


Randall 


Sutton 


Winkler 


Gregg 


Reeves 


Terry 


Young 


Hood 


Scurry 


Tom Green 




Jeff Davis 


Stephens 


Upton 





As Told in County Names 



245 



CAMP. 



John La Fayette Camp was born on a farm adjacent to Ely- 
ton (now a suburb of Birmingham), Ala., in 1820; attended the 
common schools and at the ag-e of twenty graduated from the 
University of Tennessee at Knox- 
ville. He removed to Texas and lo- 
cated at Gilmer, in Upshur County, 
where he taught school and prac- 
ticed law. He married in 1851 and 
continued the practice of law up to 
1861. He was then elected Captain 
of a company from Upshur County 
and joined the Confederate Army. 
When the Fourteenth Texas Regi- 
ment was organized he was elected 
Colonel, and in that capacity served through the entire period 
of the war; he was twice wounded severely, first at Murfrees- 
boro, Tenn., in the right shoulder, and afterward at Altoona 
Heights, Ga., was seriously wounded in the right leg. He was 
twice captured and imprisoned for many months. After the 
war he returned to Texas and was elected a member of the Con- 
stitutional convention of 1866 and State Senator in 1874. He 
became District Judge in 1878, and was appointed a member 
of the Board of Regents of the State University, but owing to 
ill health could not serve. In 1884 he was appointed Land 
Commissioner to Arizona. At the end of his term he moved 
to San Antonio and after a lingering illness died in July, 1891. 




246 



The History and Geography of Texas 



ECTOR. 



M. D. Ector was born in Putman County, Ga., February 28, 
1822. He was educated at La Grange, Ga., and at Center 
College, Kentucky. He began the practice of law in his native 

county in 1845, and in the same 
year was elected to the Legisla- 
ture in that State. He came to 
Texas in 1849 and located at 
Henderson, where he practiced 
law. He was elected and served 
in the Texas Legislature in 
1855. In 1861 he enlisted as a 
private and soon afterward was 
appointed Adjutant by Colonel 
(afterward General) Hogg. Af- 
ter the battle of Shiloh he was 
made a Colonel for gallantry on 
the field, and two weeks later 
was made a Brigadier General. He was in the battles of Chicka- 
mauga, Murfreesboro and other engagements, and while fighting 
near Atlanta on the 28th of July, 1864, he received a wound which 
necessitated the amputation of his left leg. When sufficiently re- 
covered from the operation he reported for duty and was assigned 
to the command of troops at Mobile. He returned to Texas after 
the war. He was elected District Judge, but after about a year's 
service he was removed, along with other officers in the Throck- 
morton administration, upon the pretense of his being an impedi- 
ment to reconstruction. He then removed to Marshall and prac- 
ticed law. In 1874 he was appointed District Judge by Gov- 
ernor Coke. When the Court of Appeals was created, in 1875, 
he was made a Justice of that body, and in 1876 selected as 
Chief Justice by his associates. During a session of the court 
at Tyler he died in that city October 20, 1879. 




As Told in County Names 



247 



GREGG. 



General John Gregg was born in Lawrence County, Ala., 
September 28, 1828. He attended the celebrated school of Pro- 
fessor Tutwiler, from which he graduated in 1847, and after 
graduation was employed as pro- 
fessor of languages and mathemat- 
ics in the same school. In 1851 he 
studied law in the office of Judge 
Townes at Tuscumbia, Ala., and in 
1852 removed to Texas and located 
at Fairfield, in Freestone County. 
After practicing law four years he 
was elected District Judge of that 
district and was holding that of- 
fice in 1861, when elected a dele- 
gate to the Secession convention. 
He was then chosen as a delegate 
to the Provisional Congress of the 
Southern Confederacy, holding sessions at Montgomery, and 
went with that body to Richmond, Va. Immediately after the 
battle of Manassas, July 21, 1861, he resigned, returned to 
Texas and organized the Seventh Regiment of Volunteers, of 
which he was made Colonel. The command went to Kentucky, 
and he was captured at Fort Donaldson. When exchanged he 
returned to the Confederacy and was promoted to the position 
of Brigadier General and joined the army in Mississippi. He 
was in the engagements of the Western army until the battle 
of Chickamauga. He was then transferred to Virginia and 
placed in command of Hood's old brigade, and was killed near 
Fort Harrison on the Charles City road, October 7, 1864. 





248 The History and Geography of Texas 



HOOD. 

General John B. Hood was born in Bath County, Ky., June 
29, 1831. At an early age his parents moved to Fort Starling, 
Montgomery County, Ky,, where he was reared and educated 

in the common schools. He entered the 
United States Military Academy at 
West Point, from which he graduated 
in 1853, and was made Second Lieuten- 
ant in the army, being assigned to duty 
with the Fourth United States Infant- 
ry in California. He was later trans- 
ferred to the Second United States Cav- 
alry. In 1855 he served on the frontier 
of Texas. On the 16th of April, 1861, 
he resigned his commission in the Uni- 
ted States Army and tendered his services to the Southern Con- 
federacy and was ordered to report to General Magruder in 
the peninsula, below Richmond, with a Captain's commission. 
He was soon promoted to the rank of Major, and on the 30th 
of September, 1861, was made Colonel and placed in command 
of the Fourth Texas Regiment of Infantry. On the 3rd of 
March, 1862, he was made Brigadier General, and in hotly 
contested battles of the different campaigns in Virginia in 1862 
his brigade became famous. In 1863 he was made a Major Gen- 
eral. At the battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, he was so se- 
verely wounded in his right leg as to necessitate amputation. 
Later he was appointed Lieutenant General. On the 17th of 
July, 1864, he was put in command of the army near Atlanta 
and commanded in a severe engagement on the 20th and again 
on the 27th. He abandoned Atlanta on September 1, and in 
command of an army of forty thousand men he marched back 
into Tennessee and fought the disastrous battle of Franklin 
on the 30th of November, and again, on the 15th of December, 
attacked and was defeated at Nashville. This practically ended 
his military career. After the close of the war he located at 
New Orleans and embarked in the insurance business. He was 
stricken with yellow fever and died in that city in 1879. 



As Told in County Names 249 

A handsome monument to his brigade has been erected in the 
Capitol grounds at Austin. 

He, like many other Confederate officers, died leaving little 
property to support his family. He left a family of nine young 
orphan children, his wife having previously died. This inspired 
Mary Hunt McCaleb to write the following lines : 

HOOD'S LAST CHARGE. 

The twilight of life is beginning to fall. 

Death's shadows are creeping high up on the wall ; 

Eternity's waters are splashing 
So close I can hear the wild waves as they roar 
And sullenly break on the surf -beaten shore, 

Their silver spray over me dashing. 

The old camp is fading away from my view ; 
I hear the last stroke of life's beating tattoo, — 

The sounds wear the muffle of sorrow. 
My campaigns are ended, my battles are o'er, 
My heroes will follow my lead never more. 

No roll-call shall break on my morrow. 



But sh! the last enemy conquers tonight. 
And death is the victor — in vain is the fight, 

When God and his creatures have striven ; 
The struggle is over; life's colors are furled — 
Are lost in the dark of the vanishing world ; 

The bonds of the spirit are riven. 

But ere I go down 'neath the conqueror's tread. 
And lie white and still in the ranks of the dead. 

Through silence forever unbroken. 
To you, my old heroes, my TEXAS BRIGADE, 
From the dimness of death, from the cold of its shade. 

One last solemn charge must be spoken : 



250 The History and Geography of Texas 

"My faithful old followers, steady and true, 
My children are orphans, — I give them to you, 

A trust for your sacredest keeping. 
By the shades of the heroes who fought at your side, 
By the few who have lived, and the many who died. 

By the brave army silently sleeping. 

"By the charges I led, where you followed so true. 
When the soldiers in gray and the soldiers in blue, 

And the blood of the bravest was flowing. 
Be true to this last and this holiest trust, 
Tho' the heart of your leader has crumbled to dust, 

And grasses above him are growing." 

JEFF DAVIS. 

Jefferson Davis, in whose honor this county was named, was 
the grandson of Eben Davis, who came from Wales to Amer- 
ica about the year 1748 and settled in Georgia. His son, Sam- 
uel, did honorable service in the war of 
the revolution, and at its close settled 
near Augusta. liater he moved to 
Christian County, Kentucky, where 
Jefferson, his ninth child, was born, 
June 3, 1808. He attended St. Thomas' 
College, in Kentucky, a Catholic school, 
for two years ; Jefferson College in Mis- 
sissippi, and Transylvania University 
at Lexington, Kentucky, for two years. 
He was then appointed a cadet at West 
Point Military Academy and graduated 
in 1828 and commissioned as Second Lieutenant in July of that 
year, and on March 4, 1833, was promoted to First Lieuten- 
ant of dragoons. He served in the Black Hawk War and later 
was stationed at Fort Gibson, Arkansas, where he married the 
daughter of Colonel Zachary Taylor in 1835. He then resigned 
his commission and engaged in cotton Dlanting in Warren 
County, Mississippi, where his wife soon afterwards died. He 




As Told in County Names 251 

was a Presidential elector on the Polk and Dallas ticket in 1844, 
and was elected to the lower house of the U. S. Congress in 1845, 
and served until June, 1846, when he resigned to take command 
of the First Regiment of Mississippi Riflemen in the Mexican 
War. He was with Taylor's Army at Monterey in September, 

1846, where he greatly distinguished himself, as he afterwards 
did at Buena Vista. Three months later he was appointed 
Brigadier General, but declined it to accept the appointment 
to the United States Senate from Mississippi. He was subse- 
quently elected to the same position and served from August, 

1847, to November, 1851. He was a candidate for Governor 
that year and was defeated, but was again elected to the United 
States Senate. He resigned that to become Secretary of War 
in President Pierce's Cabinet March 3, 1853, and served four 
years. He was then elected to the United States Senate and 
served until January 21, 1861, when he withdrew from that 
body with other Southern Senators. He was chosen Provision- 
al President of the Southern Confederacy at Montgomery, Al- 
abama, and inaugurated February 19, 1851. He was elected 
President of the Southern Confederacy for six years and was 
inaugurated February 22, 1862, at Richmond, Virgania. 

While attempting to make his escape from the Federal Army, 
after the surrender of Lee and Johnston, he was captured by 
Union troops at Irwinville, Georgia, May 14, 1865. He was 
imprisoned for two years at Fortress Monroe and indicted for 
treason, but by the direction of the Federal government the 
case was dismissed and he was released in December, 1868. He 
then returned to Mississippi and settled at Beauvoir and died 
in New Orleans December 6, 1868. 



252 



The History and Geography of Texas 



LEE. 



Robert E. Lee, son of General Henry Lee (Light Horse Harr.Y 
of the Revolution), the great chieftain of the Southern Confed- 
eracy, was born in Stratford, Va., January 19, 1807. He en- 
tered the United States Military 
Academy at West Point and grad- 
uated from there in 1829. When 
General Scott invaded Mexico, in 
1847, Lee was appointed Chief of 
Engineers of the Army. He re- 
ceived three promotions for ser- 
vices in that campaign. He was 
superintendent of the Academy at 
West Point in 1852, and afterward 
served on the frontier of Texas. 
He was in command of troops that 
captured old John Brown at Har- 
per's Ferry, in 1859. He resigned 
his commission as Colonel in the 
United States Army on April 20, 1861, and was appointed Ma- 
jor General by the State of Virginia immediately afterward; 
was made commander of the army of Northern Virginia in 
1862, and directed all its campaigns afterward. He was made 
General in Chief of the Armies of the Southern Confederacy 
January 31, 1865, and surrendered to General Grant at Appo- 
mattox, Va., April 9, 1865. 

After the war he was tendered several lucrative positions, 
but declined them to accept the presidency of Washington Col- 
lege (now Washington and Lee University) and was acting in 
that capacity when he died, October 12, 1870. 




As Told in County Names 253 



RANDALL. 

General Horace Randall was born in Tennessee in 1821. His 
parents moved to Texas and located in San Augustine County. 
He was appointed cadet at West Point in 1849; graduated in 
1853 and was commissioned Second Lieutenant of cavalry in 
the same year. He served in the army on the Texas and other 
frontiers, but resigned in 1861 to offer his services to the 
Southern Confederacy. He organized a regiment in East Texas 
and went to the front, commanding in various engagements, 
first as Colonel, then as Brigadier General, in the Trans-Mis- 
.sissippi department, and was killed at Jenkin's Ferry, other- 
wise known as the battle of Saline, in Arkansas, on the 30th of 
April, 1864. 

REEVES. 

George R. Reeves was born in Hickman County, Tennessee, 
July 3, 1826. At the age of nine years his parents moved to 
Arkansas and he resided there until he came to Texas in 1845, 
and located in what is now Grayson County, about seven miles 
north of the present site of Sherman, and engaged in farming 
and stock raising. He was sheriff" of that county and assessor 
and collector of taxes from 1845 to 1856. He was elected a 
member of the Legislature and was serving in that body when 
the Civil War began. He organized Company C, Eleventh 
Texas Cavalry, and was chosen Captain of the company, serv- 
ing east of the Mississippi. He was promoted to the position 
of Colonel in 1863. He was elected to the Legislature in 1873, 
and successively re-elected up to 1881, and was Speaker of the 
House of Representatives at the time of his death, September 
.5, 1882. 



254 



The History and Geography of Texas 



SCURRY. 



William R. Scurry was born in Gallatin, Tenn., February 10, 
1821. He was reared, educated and studied law in that county 
and came to Texas in 1840, locating in Washington County. He 

became a full-fledged 




^,,»,^-^^^-i^ lawyer before he was 

twenty-one years old. 
He was elected a mem- 
ber of the Ninth and 
last Congress of the 
Republic, and at the 
breaking out of the 
Mexican War he 
promptly enlisted and 
was elected Major of 
Wood's Regiment. He 
was conspicuous for 
gallantry in the en- 
gagment of Monterey. 
After that he moved to Clarksville, in Red River County, where 
he actively engaged in the practice of law and became one of 
the most popular orators in the State. He then located in 
DeWitt County, at Clinton, then the county site, and was en- 
gaged in his profession when the Civil War broke out in 1861. 
He promptly enlisted in the Confederate Army, and was elected 
Lieutenant Colonel and accompanied Sibley's Brigade to New 
Mexico and participated in the battles of Peralto, Valverde, and 
Glorietta. Upon his return to Texas he was appointed to the 
command of the Eastern Military sub-district. In 1863 he was 
commissioned Brigadier General and assigned to duty under 
General Dick Taylor in Louisiana, and was killed at the battle 
of Saline (Jenkin's Ferry), April 30, 1864. 



As Told in County Names 



255 



STEPHENS. 



Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederate 
States, was born at Crawfordsville, Taliaferro County, Ga., 
February 11, 1812. He graduated from Franklin College in 
1832, and from 1836 to 1842 
served in both branches of the 
Georgia Legislature. In 1843 
he was elected to the lower 
house of the United States 
Congress, and by successive 
elections was a member of 
that body to the close of the 
Thirty-fourth Congress. 

At the first stage of the se- 
cession movement he was op- 
posed to the policy, but when 1 >*.. ^b. lar \ 
secession became inevitable 
he joined his native state and 
was chosen Vice-President of the Confederate States in 1861. 
At the close of the war between the States (1865) he was ar- 
rested by the United States authorities, but was soon released, 
and in 1866 was chosen United States Senator from Georgia, 
but was refused admission to the Senate. He was elected to and 
served in successive Congresses from the Forty-third to the 
Forty-seventh. In 1882 he was elected Governor of Georgia. 
He died at Atlanta before the expiration of his term as Gov- 
ernor, March 4, 1883. He was an author of note, his "History 
of the United States" and "A Constitutional View of the War 
Between the States" being his principal published works. 




256 The History and Geography of Texas 

STONEWALL. 

Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born in Clarksburg, Va., 
(now West Virginia) January 21, 1824. He was educated in 
the common schools of his section of Virginia and entered the 

United States Military 
Academy at West 
Point in 1841. Grad- 
u a ting in 1845 he 
was made a Second 
Lieutenant, and in 
1847 actively partici- 
pated in the campaign 
from Vera Cruz to the 
City of Mexico in Gen- 
eral Scott's Army. Af- 
ter the close of the war 
he served upon the 
frontier of the United 
States, but resigned in 
1855 to accept the po- 
sition of professor of 
mathematics at the 
Virginia Military Institute, and was engaged in the duties of 
that position when the Civil War began in 1861. He offered 
his services to his native state and was immediately commis- 
sioned Colonel and soon afterward Brigadier General. While 
commanding his brigade at the first battle of Manassas, Colonel 
Barnard E. Bee, whose regiment was confused by the enemy, 
pointed out to his command General Jackson, saying, "There 
stands Jackson like a stone wall," and he was ever afterward 
called "Stonewall Jackson." He was afterward made Major 
General, and after his wonderful campaign in the Valley of 
Virginia, and the rapid movements by which he was enabled 
to come to the rescue of Lee at Richmond in 1862 his fame 
became world-wide. He was killed at Chancellorsville by his 
own men through mistake. May 10, 1863. His rapid marches 
earned for his command the title of "Jackson's Foot Cavalry." 




As Told in County Names 257 

He was a man of intense religious convictions and deep piety, 
and a member of tlie Presbyterian church, 

SUTTON. 

John S. Sutton was a native of Newcastle County, Delaware, 
where he was born September 12, 1821. At the age of 
eighteen he was appointed to a cadetship at West Point Mil- 
itary Academy, but left in January, 1840, and came to Texas, 
making his home at Austin. Soon after his arrival he joined 
the ranger service and was actively engaged in that capacity 
when the Santa Fe expedition was organized. He organized 
a company and joined this expedition and was one of those 
who surrendered and was carried prisoner to Castle Perote, 
where he shared all the hardships of his fellow-prisoners. Af- 
ter his release from prison he returned to Texas and again 
joined the army in time to take part in the Somervell Expedi- 
tion, but did not accompany that portion of the army that 
crossed the Rio Grande. He shortly afterward joined the ran- 
ger service and was an active participant in various conflicts 
with the Indians. When Texas was annexed to the United 
States and the Mexican War followed, he again joined the 
army and remained with it until the war closed. He was 
actively engaged in the ranger service until 1849, when, with 
the many other gold hunters, he went to California, and from 
time to time served under Jack Hays, sheriff of San Francisco. 
Upon the expiration of Hays' term as sheriff, Sutton returned 
to Texas, and for a short period was again in the ranger 
service. 

Upon his retirement he located at Fort Lavaca and was 
engaged in business there at the commencement of the Civil 
War in 1861. He then volunteered and was elected Captain 
of a company, and upon the organization of the Seventh Regi- 
ment of Texas Volunteers at San Antonio in the summer of 
1861 was elected Lieutenant Colonel and went with Sibley's 
brigade to New Mexico. While leading the regiment in a charge 
at Val Verde, February 21, 1862, his right leg was shattered 
by grape shot. He refused to have it amputated and died from 
the wound. 

17 



As Told in County Names 259 



TERRY. 

Benjamin Franklin Terry was born on the 18th of February, 
1821, in Russelville, Kentucky. In 1831 he, in company with 
his mother and three younger brothers, also his mother's brother, 
Major Ben Fort Smith, came to Texas and settled in Brazoria 
County. He and his younger brother, David S. Terry, ran away 
from home just before the battle of San Jacinto to join Hous- 
ton's army, but learning of the overthrow of Santa Anna at 
San Jacinto, returned home. He married Mary Bingham, Oct. 
12, 1841. Her father was one of Austin's original three hun- 
dred colonists. In 1849, he and his brother, David S. Terry, 
went to California, David remained and became Chief Justice 
of the supreme court of that state, but Ben F. Terry remained 
only eighteen months. He returned to Texas and located in 
Houston. In 1852 he purchased the Oakland sugar plantation 
in Fort Bend County and was there engaged as a sugar planter 
in 1861. He was elected as a delegate to the secession conven- 
tion in 1861 and after the adjournment of that body he, in 
company with Thomas S. Lubbock, repaired to the seat of war 
in Virginia, both participating in the battle of Manassas, July 
21. Immediately after that battle they returned to Texas and 
organized at Houston a regiment of cavalry which became fam- 
ous in the annals of the Confederacy as "Terry's Texas Rang- 
ers." Terry was chosen as Colonel and Lubbock Lieutenant 
Colonel. Immediately after the organization and equipment 
of the regiment they went to the seat of war in Kentucky. In 
an impetuous charge upon the enemy Terry was killed at Wood- 
sonville, Kentucky, December 17, 1861. 



260 



The History and Geography of Texas 



TOM GREEN. 




V-^' 



Gen. Thomas Green was born in Amelia County, Virginia, June 
8, 1814. In 1817 his father's family moved to Tennessee, where 
his father was for many years a Justice of the Supreme Court. 

Tom Green received a liberal ed- 
ucation in the common schools, 
Princeton College, Kentucky, 
and at the University of Tennes- 
see; studied law in 1834 and in 
the fall of 1835, when he learned 
\ of the conditions of Texas, came 
^^ and joined the army as a private 
■^ in March, 1836, and was in the 
campaign that culminated April 
21, at San Jacinto. He was pro- 
moted to a Lieutenancy for gal- 
lantry in this battle. He then went back to Tennessee, but 
returned to Texas in 1837, held the position of clerk in the 
Congress of 1838 and in that year was elected Surveyor of 
Fayette County. In 1841 he was appointed clerk of the Su- 
preme Court of the Republic and held that office continuously 
up to 1846, and was re-elected to the same position after an- 
nexation and held the office until 1861, when he enlisted in the 
Confederate Army. In the early days of this court there was 
not enough business to employ his entire time, and on repeated 
occasions he left the office in charge of a deputy and joined mil- 
itary organizations when the exigencies of the country seemed 
to demand it. In 1841 he joined the expedition against the 
Indians up the Colorado River. In 1842 he joined the Somervell 
Expedition as Inspector General and in 1846 he volunteered in 
the Mexican War and commanded a company in the famous 
regiment of John C. (Jack) Hays. Early in 1861 he was made 
Colonel of a regiment in the Sibley expedition into New Mex- 
ico and performed conspicuous service in the Battle of Val 
Verde. On the 31st of December, 1862, he was in immediate 
command of the forces that captured Galveston, and from that 



As Told in County Names 261 

time up to his death he was in the various campaigns in Louis- 
iana. On the 12th day of April, 1864, he was killed at the bat- 
tle of Blairs Landing, on Red River, in Louisiana. 



UPTON. 

John Cunningham Upton was born on a farm near Win- 
chester, Franklin County, Tennessee, January 22, 1828, at- 
tended the common schools of his county and attended the 
University of Lebanon, Tenn. He left Tennessee in 1850 and 
went to California, where he remained until 1859. His fam- 
ily having moved to Texas in the interim he removed from 
California to Texas in that year and settled in Fayette County 
and took charge of his mother's plantation. Early in 1861 he 
raised a company, was chosen Captain and went to the seat 
of war in Virginia and was attached to the Fifth Texas Reg- 
iment of Hood's Brigade, and was in the numerous engage- 
ments of that brigade up to his death. He was promoted to 
Major and then Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment, and while 
at the head of the regiment in a charge at the second battle 
of Manassas, August 30, 1862, he was killed. William Felton 
Upton, the brother, was born near Winchester, Tenn., August 
30, 1832, and was reared and educated there. In 1853 he 
moved with his mother and family to Fayette County, Texas, 
and engaged in farming in that county until 1861. In that year 
he enlisted in Nichol's Regiment and was successively promo- 
ted from Captain to Lieutenant Colonel and served during the 
entire war. He returned to Fayette County in 1865 and began, 
in connection with his farming operations, a mercantile busi- 
ness and soon became the leading merchant at Schulenberg. 
He served several terms in the State Legislature and died at 
Schulenberg, Texas, February 7, 1887. Upton County was 
named in honor of these brothers. 



262 



The History and Geography of Texas 



VAL VERDE. 

This county was named in honor of the battle fought at Val 
Verde, near Fort Craig, N. M., on the 19th of February, 1862, 
under the command of Gen. Tom Green, General Sibley, the com- 
mander, being unwell. This was the culmination of what was 
called the Sibley expedition into New Mexico, the object of 
which was to bring New Mexico under the dominion of the 
Southern Confederacy. 



WINKLER. 

C. M. Winkler was born in Burke County, North Carolina, 
October 19, 1821, but moved with his father's family to In- 
diana in 1831 ; was educated there and came to Texas in 1840. 



^^::rS 



He settled at Franklin, county 
site of Robertson County, 
and prepared himself for the bar 
while acting as deputy clerk of 
the District Court. In 1844 he 
was elected District Clerk; held 
the office two years and went 
into the active practice of his 
profession. In 1848 he removed 
to Corsicana and was in the 
same year elected to the Legis- 
lature. After serving one term 
he devoted his entire energies to 
the practice of his profession up 
to 1861. Early in 1861 he was elected Captain of a company 
in the Fourth Texas Regiment and was successively promoted 
until he was made Colonel ; he was seriously wounded at Get- 
tysburg. After the war he resumed his practice in partner- 
ship with Colonel (afterward Ignited States Senator) Mills; 
was elected a member of the Legislature in 1873, and in 1876 
was elected one of the Judges of the Court of Appeals, and 
after holding this office he was re-elected, and while serving 
died on the 13th of May, 1882, at Austin, Texas. 




As Told in County Names 263 



YOUNG. 

W. C. Young came to Texas about the 3^ear 1841 and settled 
in Red River County. He was in the service as a Ranger for 
some time, and in 1845 was elected a delegate to the convention 
which framed the first State Constitution. He afterwards 
served in the State Legislature and was in the ranger service 
in Northwest Texas from time to time up to 1861. In that year 
he was elected a delegate to the secession convention and after 
adjournment entered the service of the Southern Confederacy 
and was chosen Colonel of the Fourth Texas Regiment of Cav- 
alry and went with his command into the campaign in Arkan- 
sas and Missouri. He was killed in the Indian Territory in 1862. 



264 The History and Geography of Texas 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE INDIANS OF TEXAS. 

Five counties of the State have been named for Indian 
tribes, viz : 

1. Cherokee 3. Nacogdoches 5. Wichita 

2. Comanche 4. Pecos 



CHEROKEE. 

This tribe of Indians played a somewhat conspicuous part 
in the history of the United States, not only in the usual and 
ordinary Indian way, but in the politics of the United States, 
and in the politics of Texas as well. 

They began to settle in the region north of the old San An- 
tonio road, between the Sabine and Trinity Rivers, as early 
as 1819, and continued for five years to arrive from the re- 
gion they occupied in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and the 
Carolinas. They sought to obtain a grant from Mexico to this 
region in 1822, but failed to obtain anything beyond its permis- 
sive use, until the subject of colonization of Texas was definitely 
fixed and regulated by laws providing for the settlement of the 
country which were enacted several years later. No provision 
was made for granting titles to land, except in severalty or to the 
individual, and not to a community or tribe in solido. This, 
of course, the Cherokees did not desire, and matters remained 
in this way, they continuing in possession until the revolution 
of Texas against Mexico, when, by some understanding, their 
permissive use and occupancy was continued. Their persist- 
ent claim of title to the country and the friction that increased 
as the neighboring country was settled, together with undoubted 
evidence of disloyalty to the Republic of Texas, culminated in 
what was known as the Cherokee War in 1838, which resulted 
in their expulsion from Texas in 1839. 



As Told in County Names 265 



COMANCHE. 

The connection of this tribe with the history of Texas dates 
back to about 1750, when they came down from the north and 
vanquished that other warlike tribe, the Apaches (see Ban- 
dera). They were more than a match for the Spanish set- 
tlers and troops, and were the virtual masters of Texas until 
the Anglo-Americans came. They stubbornly resisted every 
advance of the new settlers, stealing and murdering, and they 
did not finally leave the borders of the State until railroads 
and barbed wire fences obstructed their way, and there were 
no longer buffaloes and other available wild game for them to 
subsist upon. In 1882 they gave up the contest and retired to 
Indian Territory. 

NACOGDOCHES. 

This was the name of one of the Texas tribes in the Hasinai 
Confederacy for which a mission was established in 1716. If 
the term "prehistoric" means the period embraced before Co- 
lumbus discovered America we may call it a prehistoric name, 
as a tribe of Indians of this name was encountered by the rem- 
nant of De Soto's followers under Moscoso in 1542, and they 
were referred to by that name in the narrative of that expe- 
dition. The mission established there in 1716 was abandoned 
in 1719, when the French invaded that country. But the In- 
dians, such as were left there and were willing to go, were 
transferred to the Mission Espada about 1731, and they seem to 
have lost their identity afterwards. In the meantime some 
Spaniard settlers had settled on the Trinity and about 1775 
re-established this old mission, and in 1785 there were two 
Spanish friars and a few settlers around there. The old Span- 
ish fort recently demolished was the last relic of the old mis- 
sion. After this American traders began to visit the place 
and to settle in the vicinity. When Edwards obtained his con- 
tract in 1825 to introduce 800 families into this region it was 
found to embrace many of these old Spanish claims, and the 



266 The History and Geography of Texas 

friction that arose resulted in the Fredonian War. It was made 
a municipality by Coahuila and Texas and became one of the 
first counties of the Republic of Texas. 



PECOS. 

This county took its name from the Pecos River. Bander- 
ier's report on the Pueblo of Pecos (in the papers of the Arch- 
aeological Institute of America). American Sur., Vol. 1, Page 
114, note, says : "The name Pecos itself belongs to the Qq'ueres 
language of New Mexico, and is pronounced Pae-qp. It is ap- 
plied to the inhabitants of the Pueblo, the place itself being 
called Pae-qog-one. The first mention of it under the name of 
Pecos is found in the documents of the year 1598, after the 
general meeting of Juan de Onate with the Pueblo Indians in 
the Estufa of Santo Domingo (a Qq'ueres village)." This vil- 
lage, or pueblo, was on the headwaters of the stream which 
now bears this name. As far back as Coronado's expedition 
(1542) this tribe, if one may call it such, had a tradition of 
its own, for their boast then was that it had never been con- 
quered and could conquer any of its neighbors. The name, 
therefore, is, as is Nacogdoches, of prehistoric origin. 



WICHITA. 

This was a common name for a number of tribes of Indians 
who occupied the headwaters of Red River and its tributaries. 
They came down into Texas from the north after the Span- 
iards first came to the country and lived in villages of the 
upper Brazos and Red Rivers. Like the Cherokees, they were 
peaceably inclined as a rule, practiced agriculture and remained 
in Texas long after the Anglo-American settlers came, but dis- 
appeared on the reservation after the Civil War. 



As Told in County Names 



267 



CHAPTER XVII. 



PHYSIOGRAPHIC NAMES. 



THE PHYSIOGRAPHIC NAMES OF COUNTIES. 



1. 


Atascosa 


11. 


Falls 


20. 


Matagorda 


2. 


Blanco 


12. 


Fort Bend 


21. 


Midland 


3. 


Bosque 


13. 


Freestone 


22. 


Nueces 


4. 


Brazoria 


14. 


Frio 


23. 


Orange 


5. 


Brazos 


15. 


Lampasas 


24. 


Palo Pinto 


6. 


Colorado 


16. 


Lavaca 


25. 


Panola 


7. 


Concho 


17. 


Limestone 


26. 


Red River 


8. 


Comal 


18. 


Live Oak 


27. 


Rockwall 


9. 


Delta 


19. 


Llano 


28. 


Sabine 


10. 


El Paso 











As Told in County Names 269 



ATASCOSA. 

This word means "boggy." We have no historical account 
of its apphcation to this region, but there would seem to be 
no doubt as to why it was called Atascosa before the Anglo- 
Americans began to traverse it. Brown's History of Texas 
(Vol. II, p. 235) says: ''On a pleasant November day, 22nd, 
1842, all the camps (of the Somervell Expedition) around the 
Mission Concepcion * * * ^qqJ. ^^jp ^j^^ jjj^^ of march on 
the road from San Antonio to El Presidio Rio Grande. They 
•encamped two nights and a day on the Rio Medina, then crossed 
that stream and after following the road several miles, to the 
astonishment and mortification of everyone, turned to the left 
southerly * * * and a few miles brought them to a sandy 
postoak country where horses and mules sank to their bodies 
in quicksand. * * * That locality became known as the 
■"'bogs," or "The Devil's Eight Leagues." 

Green, in his "Mier Expedition," gives a somewhat more 
minute and picturesque description. He says : "This kind of 
land, with much appearance of firmness to the eye, and suffi- 
ciently firm to bear a man's weight, will let horses' feet through, 
and after once through the grass sod the soft quicksand be- 
neath will carry the animal down. * * * Two days were 
employed in five miles of this kind of land. * * * 'pj^g 
whole seven hundred and sixty men, horses and packs were 
scattered over the country as far as the eye could reach, some 
floundering and plunging forth ; some with their bodies down 
upon the ground, their legs entirely out of sight and their noses 
upon the ground, in perfect quietude, as well as to say to their 
owners, 'You put me in here, now get me out,' while the owner 
would be standing by giving utterance to all manner of curi- 
ous oaths; some would be lying on their side, afraid to trust 
their legs under them, while the poor pack nlules, with their 
little feet, stood the worst kind of a chance. The coffee pots 
and frying pans would go one way and the aparajos and other 
camp appurtenances another. * * * Here one would strike 



270 The History and Geography of Texas 

a fire and go to cooking, as he would say, while the animal 
could blow, etc." 

The name, first applied to a circumscribed area, was soon 
given to the stream, and in 1856 the Legislature created a 
county with more than one thousand square miles of area and 
applied "Atascosa" or "boggy" to it. 

BLANCO. 

The Aguayo expedition of 1721 was composed of a larger 
body of men and better equipments and traveled a greater dis- 
tance than any other of the Spanish expeditions to Texas. It 
traveled entirely across the country from the Rio Grande to and 
beyond the Sabine. From San Antonio it went by what is now 
New Braunfels, San Marcos, and Austin until it reached George- 
town, Belton, and Waco, where it crossed the Brazos, then in a 
southeasterly direction until it reached the old San Antonio 
road ; thence in a northeasterly direction to the Texas villages 
(see Angelina), and from there across the Sabine to Nachi- 
toches. La. After leaving San Antonio he gave names to many 
streams and other natural objects, some of which names have 
long since disappeared, and only a few have survived to become 
county names 

Blanco means "White." It was given to that stream, which 
flows almost its entire length through a white, chalky lime- 
stone region. 

BOSQUE. 

The whole course of the Aguayo expedition from Monclova 
to the Brazos was through a sparsely wooded region, and when 
they reached the Brazos; at the junction of the Bosque, they 
encountered a dense growth of larger trees than they had ever 
seen, and called that stream the "Bosque" or "Woody" River, 
the word meaning "woody." 

BRAZORIA. 

Is Simply a derivative of Brazos. 



As Told in County Names 271 



BRAZOS. 

This word means "arms." Brazos de Dios — Arms of God. 
Applied to streams it means forks. 

The river was probably named in 1690 or 1691. As to the 
circumstances of the application of the name, there are various 
accounts, but as far as the author was able to learn, none of 
them have any historical foundation. 

The county was named for the river January, 1842. 

COLORADO. 

This word means "Red Water." When it was first applied to 
the present stream is not definitely known. It was applied to 
several streams by different expeditions. 

COMAL. 

This word means basin. It was probably applied to this 
stream during the Aguayo expedition. It had its source in nu- 
merous springs a short distance above the town of New Braun- 
fels, which formed the Comal River, one of the most rapid and 
steady streams in the State. The river is only about three 
miles long and furnishes the best natural water power in the 
State. 

CONCHO. 

This word means "Shell," from the Spanish "Concha." The 
River Concho, from which the county took its name, has a his- 
tory extending back to 1650, when an expedition went there 
from New Mexico and found pearls in the streams, which they 
sent to the Viceroy. (Bancroft's History of the Mexican States, 
Vol. 1, p. 384.) A want of knowledge of the geography of Texas 
on the part of Mr. Bancroft deprives his history of what would 
be one of its greatest values. Appreciating the importance of this. 
Dr. Bolton, in his researches in Mexico, found a diary of another 
expedition, undertaken in 1683, and was able to make out in 



272 The History and Geography of Texas 

detail the route of this last expedition, and with accuracy to 
trace it to the site of the modern city of San Angelo. The In- 
dians in that region induced the authorities at El Paso to un- 
dertake the establishment of a mission there and a large ex- 
pedition was fitted out and marched there. They encamped 
on the banks of the stream and awaited the gathering of the 
Indians. They waited in vain for many months, and while wait- 
ing engaged in fishing in the river for pearls, with some suc- 
cess. A half century ago there were some traces of large beds 
of shells (mussels) near the banks of the stream. The finding 
of so many shells in the river at diff'erent times caused the 
Spaniards to identify it as the Concho (Shell) River. The 
shells or mussels are still abundant in this and other streams of 
the upper Colorado, and valuable pearls are taken from them, the 
value of some reaching as high as two hundred and fifty dollars. 



DELTA. 

So named because of the county's boundaries being in the 
shape of the Greek letter Delta. It is situated between the 
north and south branches of the Sulphur Fork of Red River, 
the two joining on the extreme eastern end. 



EL PASO. 

"The Pass" — one of the first, if not the first, geographical 
names applied by the Spaniards to any part of Texas. It is a 
natural gateway through the chain of mountains, and from its 
peculiar situation all routes of that region converge there, and 
in modern times all railways in that region converge there. 



FALLS. 

About thirty miles southeast of Waco the water of the Brazos 
River has a fall of about twenty feet over the rocks and shoals, 
hence the name of the County through which the river flows. 



As Told in County Names 273 



FORT BEND. 

This county was named for an old fort in the bend of the 
Brazos River at the present county site of this county. The 
fort was built about 1818, when Lafitte had his headquarters 
on Galveston Island and when the interior was infested by wild 
Indians. In that year William Andrews established a trading 
station there and to protect it built a fort. It was well known 
as old Fort Bend several years before Austin's first colonists 
began to arrive. 

FREESTONE. 

Was created out of the territory of Limestone County in 
1850, Limestone having been created in 1846. The totally dif- 
ferent soil formation and character of water prompted the au- 
thors of the bill to make the boundary between the new and 
the old county represent in a general way the line between the 
freestone and the limestone regions. This line, in a general 
way, is a part of the western line of the great lignite belt of 
Texas. 

FRIO. 

"Cold," applied, according to Bancroft, to the River Frio in 
1689, during De Leon's expedition, as a testimonial to the low 
temperature of the water. 

LAMPASAS. 

The origin of this name is not definitely known. The river, 
after which the county took its name, was named Lampasas 
more than a century before the county was created, and was 
supposed by some to be of Indian origin, having particular ref- 
erence to the Sulphur Springs which supplied most of its water. 

The most plausible theory is that it was borrowed from the 
name of the Mexican town, Lampazos, and the stream first be- 
came known to the Spaniards in 1721, when the Aguayo expe- 
dition crossed it going to Eastern Texas. This expedition 



274 The History and Geography of Texas 

crossed it where three streams come together and formed what 
was known at different times Primeria Brazos, San Andress, 
and now known as Little River. Spanish names were given to 
these three rivers, namely : Salado, Lampasas and Leon. About 
twenty years later three missions were established on the San 
Gabriel River near its mouth. These missions were maintained 
about twelve years and the geography of the region doubtless 
became familiar, as there are evidences of attempts to find sev- 
eral silver and gold mines in various places near what is now 
known as the town of Salado. Evidences of old shafts sunk 
near the Williamson and Bell County lines are still in existence. 
Mr. Gannett says the word means ''Water Lily," but the 
standard Spaniard dictionaries do not so define it. The word 
Lampazos is defined as "Burdock,", "common burdock" or 
"cockleburr," "pimples on the face," "swab or mop used to 
clean off the decks of ships." The Spanish word for water lily 
is Nunfia, Ninufa. This name was given to the stream prob- 
ably in 1721. 

LAVACA. 

This word is composed of the two Spanish words La, "the," 
and Vaca, "Cow." It is named for the river, near whose mouth 
La Salle built Fort St. Louis, and was first named by the French 
because of the large herds of buffalo seen in the vicinity. When 
the Spaniards took possession of the country they transformed 
the French name given to the river La Vaca, and the pract- 
ical Anglo-American took the two words and ran them together 
in the one word "Lavaca." 

LIMESTONE. 

See Freestone. 

LIVE OAK. 

This county takes its name from the trees. It marks the 
end of the great postoak belt and the beginning of the scat- 
tered live oaks, extending up through the lower coastal plain. 



As Told in County Names 275 



LLANO. 

"Plain." This is a very common geographical term wherever 
the Spaniards settled. The river, from which the county took 
its name, has its source among the plains in Schleicher and Sut- 
ton counties, and flowing through a region of broken country 
empties into the Colorado River. There is another theory as 
to an Indian origin, but only a theory. 

MATAGORDA. 

There is some controversy as to the origin of this name. It 
is made up of two Spanish words, "Mata," which is defined as 
"small brush, shrubs, sprigs, blades, etc.," and "Gorda," which 
is defined as "fat, coarse, thick, dense, etc.," as Cerrogorda, Al- 
amogorda, etc. In Matagorda the meaning is "dense cane- 
brake." The most conspicuous geographical feature of this 
county is the dense cane-brake through which flows "Old Caney 
Creek," an ancient bed of the Colorado River. Having its source 
within less than a mile of the Colorado River, the creek flows 
about seventy miles through the only considerable cane-brake 
in the State, with a width of bottom lands ranging from three 
to ten miles wide, in many places through an almost impene- 
trable growth of cane. Its general course is parallel with the 
general trend of the present channel of the Colorado River, 
and the adjacent lands are the most fertile in the State. 

The theory advanced by some is that the word is composed 
of the obsolete Spanish word Mata ("slaughter") and Gorda 
("fat"). The name first applied to the bay was San Bernardo. 
It was afterward changed by the Spaniards to Matagorda, and 
the ancient bed of the Colorado from Matagorda was changed 
to "Old Caney" by the Anglo-Americans. 

MIDLAND. 

This county is so-called because it marks the midland or half- 
way ground between Fort Worth and El Paso on the Texas & 
Pacific Railway. 



276 The History and Geography of Texas 



NUECES. 

"Pecans," so-called during De Leon's expedition in 1689, in 
the diary of which it is said, in writing of the Nueces River, 
"We call it Nueces because of the many pecan trees on its banks." 

ORANGE. 

All the original thirteen States have the geographical name 
"Orange," except Rhode Island, in honor of the House of 
Orange. The Gulf States and California have the name four- 
teen times, given for the fruit of that name. Since the earliest 
settlements near the mouth of the Sabine River, oranges have 
been grown for domestic purposes. 

PANOLA. 

This word means "cotton," from the Indian word "Ponolo." 
No more appropriate name could have been selected by Hon. 
Isaac Van Zandt, the author of the act creating the county, 
January, 1841. Of this plant Henry W. Grady said, "The 
world waits in attendance on its growth ; the shower that , falls 
on its leaves is heard around the world ; the sun that shines on 
it is tempered by the prayers of all the people ; the frost that 
chills it, and the dew that descends from the stars, is noted; 
and the trespass of a little worm upon the green leaf is more 
to England than the advance of the Russian army upon her 
outposts. It is gold from the instant it puts forth its tiny shoot ; 
its fiber is currency in every bank, and when loosing its fleece 
to the sun, it floats in a snowy banner that glorifies the field 
of the humblest farmer." No other agricultural product has 
so great a commercial value. 



As Told in County Names 277 

RED RIVER. 

The country through which this river, from which the county 
took its name, flows, goes through several hundred miles of red 
soil, which imparts its color to the water. To distinguish it 
from the Colorado the Spaniards called it Rio Rojo or Roxo, or 
Red River, of Nachitoches. 

ROCKWALL. 

An underground rock wall, apparently built by a prehistoric 
race, gives the name to this county. 

SABINE. 

"Cypress" — The large cypress forests through which the river 
flows gave the name, Sabine, or Cypress, to the stream and 
the county. 



278 The History and Geography of Texas 



APPENDIX. 

Prior to the revolution of Texas against Mexico there was 
no such political subdivision as the county. The State's area 
was subdivided into departments and municipalities. When 
the revolution began there were three departments: Bexar, 
Brazos and Nacogdoches; and eighteen municipalities, viz: 
Austin, Bexar, Brazoria (formerly called Columbia), Goliad, 
Gonzales, Harrisburg, Jasper (formerly called Bevil), Liberty, 
Matagorda, Milam (formerly called Viesca), Mina (afterward 
called Bastrop), Nacogdoches, Refugio, San Augustine, San Pa- 
tricio, Shelby (or Teneha), Victoria and Washington. Five 
additional ones were created by the provisional council in 1835, 
viz : Colorado, Jackson, Jefferson, Red River and Sabine. The 
department was ignored as a political unit in the several con- 
ventions held, being wholly unsuited to a representative form 
of government. The representatives came from the various 
municipalities and those were the nucleus of the counties created 
by the first Congress of the Republic of Texas, and the follow- 
ing diagram shows the development of the county from them : 



As Told in County Names 



279 



??lH^n.^^4^J<^\ Sl)^A v'>7/-ry^7v>-7X-fg' ^y CuJiX^ (l^a..ru^ (Zi^t^ 



jfijixti^ 



Cf 



Cc^-^^^Cc-^n^ , 



l7^yiAXAyyiJ 



,'!7KiX>'iio 



^ ./g ^ .^u/. 



^ 



ni^qj^j^j 



za'-St'Ci, 37 



a^wy 3i 



V^-- 



n^JL..fh^ 



2i"a^*^'p 






^p- 



/Xx-<^/^-Tru^>^^ 



M ^-fyi^fL^^^^^^'^^ 



yr-i^^-^. 



^r^r^-^y 



n" 110,7 V '3(c 



/'/UM^.jH 



y^.fx.^i.'^c^y 



IDmA/tuL' 



■f-^ 



s y. 



Z' 



40 



Kfl 



■jf£ 



lohh 



fdcuM^ch 



'OMa. 



^3 



lO^iio 



Jf^Jj^^y^MJ 



(ZuJtJyiy 



'^rur^ 



/i"T_t£'st 



iTj^yl^^ 



IMA. 



ft^x^MUjct- 



nriW.Ji 



/SA-O-uZ-yzA 



J2. 



^A.^ff^.'-^y 



■^y fA 



JZ. 




ijd^ 



( a<€tUf\ 



'^"^^*'il 



^"7na/i.q 



-J h^ 



±L 



Qd^JtmyCct^ 



lOA-'y'UryMf^-OiX 



li^ 



)l'Td\',{ 



• <ff ■>? 



(^6>l 



,^JJ:tli^,nyJj, 



LcrmAxI/S 






' I " fJ>. :^ 



Ht 



fdaMA 



limlk 



LUJu. 



G^caryt'^v^J 



/GJayyi^.^O-' 



iir%..:x(. 



l3"0J../4io 



s 



^ 



Tjfu^ By^.z^th' 



^/7j;t£a.n^^ 



J^'jA^^.fJ 



f'^^l. sH 



/i-X/>> 



x3"Ti£. Vr 



z"Bu.:-ji 



a M 



&t^-f.<i^^ 



LA. 



'AL 



^1 1 4 



TXtJ jiAMJiibaK 



^a^Y 



Ja/mJiaMU 




rh 



'■nA'. ^f 



^H 



lo4', 



ria^rv /7f/ 



l/ixay^ 



/"TA 'sb 



Tri^.'s 



/d ftU\.Sb 



jss 



AayyriJoxL4-eu&^ 



'JUJUt^i Na<niJXh^'H'^i'4t 



'(^,\ir 



Ml 



/ra/rru^tetrv 



'■^/rj. 



r'^d:n 



/i,"td.'fO 



10 73 



^^^^y^y rTA.'Af 



^o/uitiL 



t/^^^^^i 



:2 



2^ 



/VA^.:? 



rA.--i^-a.-<L^ y 



lo" a ki' ¥ i^ 



yZ 



■pj^ 



ikr^ 



^'■r^ 



'-n 



/sCLJ^'fjia 



'00 



1 3 OLXXtyyoacAJ 



Qjnh.r^Jj 



44^ 



4^ 



:JL J/A^yy^^J 



'2/.J>A't7A^>!lMj^ 



-/Sa^-yOa-^y /r"7?;^,. '30> 



'.-y2^Ax^>^ 



I^^M. 



(Zio-U^oda. 



^/^^^ 



XI U- 



"(^JM^. 



hA 



1^ 



-^ 



I ^U 



rlgyrr. (ZitC^Jr 



7^'?/ (7^Au..>rU 



'2k. 



r?u 



xs'yalu/si. 



■4SL 



uia. 



ra 



^A^ V^' 



rT:d. >ir 



l<3ayrt£ltXa4— 









I i^ ^ 



/ A (nl4' 



h 



"n 



yp.-^Jy 



ya 



IjiA,. iq/3 



/O '^a.1.. 'Si> 



10 1 



(y<r^^yy 



■AJlt<iun,tr>\' 



P.^^A^m 



'^^6aHjj/dtAt^^^ty^^yei^>-teJ 






■ rfi 



280 



The History and Geography of Texas 




As Told in County Names 



281 



Tk 



fu/uyfi-^tJii^ 



^jPA ..e^/-77 y^^y^AJ 



C^-LaSG^ 



lUA-gayn^-^iti^ 



(Zu^ 



C*-t£--»CZv. 



f^f^^a.'C' 



KwL^^yi-vC^ 



fi^.-tA^ 



/di>)^'-n^ 9^a,,tAj^c^ 



/vCt^t-'CZ^y 



n/.^/I.M 



2L 



lU-^UU. 



££ 



^- '''<- 



ff.L-^/ 



JJLM_ 



%,t/' 



^ 



^ 



'd 



3k 



si" du. 



^ 



4 



iJL 



^(o^ 






'■^^^^ 



/f^^^C^Xt.t^'rU.t^ /2/"dc 



Al' /jJLq.'jl-, 



/'^■(L^^gz 






^T^e^y 



/tfUT^ 



A^^ft^L'-T^i-f'^^ 



11-/:/^^. '76, 



/Kir^C^^O'm^ 



'^h^^^y 



M^J'y 



a7,<>i^^^J-/' y 



V^^^-^r}y?-4<^\ 



-I -^•-^ 



2lL 



^ 






f^-ta.^^. r '^xA'.sii 



rm 



'"t^ 



:£si 



# 






y^ 



"^"^^ /^^y^ 



/ r^-^n r^T^rf^^ 



Li2^ 



fJ^Jy^^J 



5 01.4)^. '<7i 



^"T2 WM 27'M'^M 



4^ 



Cla. 



^A^^Tntn/ 



t_ 



/3"TA '6/7 L,-a<u,'i.o 



IS- 



-^ 



M^ 



^ 



Ib'yJa^, lo^ 



ir'Q^^,, -At 



a-f 



1" t.l s(. 



%JJi^,jJsL 






^^^y^JA 



^z. 



^/'^^^v^.>/^ 



^^J^cy^-^^-^^-c^^-^ - 



^a'^^y^^'z-'yT-^ 



'7?^e^^iy::Z^^Ty 



^.n^rir^/ 



^,'-/:, //^J,. 



r' 7 ^« .-//, ^ 



:^ 



'A^r^-rx.^ 



2.4d^ 



,^J^J>^ 



^.-'f.ry^^iJ^ 



zrO^^ Wi„ /^^^ 



^ 



^ 



AirrrJ, 



r/^- 

S 



7 



^y 



/tA-^y.^t,^/X/ 



■^3" 7f,^'.!rU I I LpS ')G.a.\-i^J' hy 



fr%Al<, 



''iQ^ 



iM^ 



VL 



a. 



H^ 



2s'TA W 



/' y^ ^r" 3 " 7u„. \o 



r fd. 'Si, 



'2.1" CUa. 7 In 



"(^■)le 



g/'V^^, 'vfc 



2JJL 



ft 



2T/h^'sh 



/:?-/./;yr 



2J. 



'^H-^ 



a^- yi' 



i^SL 



^ 



^ 



s& 



(P'?Hm''P 



laju- 






M. 



ZTim^. '£^ 



^ 



jil 






a^ 



^ 






'l^i^- '7h 



^i^'M's<i 






Aid. 



iLMl. 



J_2J^ 



1^2^^ 



/3 ^ 



LQAL 



I VI 



?SD 



-^ 



igZ> 



12L 



ao^ 



AL 



n 10 



li-f^ 



^-(^An^lJ 



^ti^rJ/C^ 



t'VO^J 



l3y^.rJ/pti.. 



^^/e^ Jfa^ 



Br:,;h>±^fA, 



(n9i-^ 



C^^PP^r 



m. 



p^Pf-^<^ 



TgJi^U/ 



iJ^L^yf ^->t> 



Tyi^j.^^-^ 



IBa 



^ 



l{^e^-^<lc 



J_LL. 



4^1 



_L2_ 



±uL 



^:fA<dAM0jL 






^'^•^■^yiy 



9^^A.^^J 



<^J^/C±L4^tpkJ 



O^.ljPiAJL/^ 



' ^Et^^^r-i-<l^ ^jf^iiA^yJi f^Jo-u. /g-(fS' 



282 



The History and Geography of Texas 




As Told in County Names 



283 




284 



The History and Geography of Texas 



If 



Ulti'yUCt.ji.a^U'f^U 



i^ 



t^^.'-^j y 



cJt^ 



CA-c^ec^tt^ 



Oajl^i--' C 



.-/e^t^f 



^-a.^'^f^^d-e.. i^J^ 



^:^ 



Uu<} 



xr 



' ^^7 



O^ ^^.j^U-'T-iJ 



</^^Au4^J 



^^"Ca^. ^ 



i>::^:a..'^ 



fjM 




^"TA. :rx in-'9LA.:^^ 



^t^^^-rr^^ 



3^;^ 



(D ^^.n.'j^^y' 



/ '7)^a^ 'J(c 



fT^-m 



X-{AJ^ 



^i-/^^^yi>v-UJ^^- 



/VW-^;<C^-C- 



y^^h 



J^a^ru k^^^H^zZ^ 



5^^"^<^*.-^<^ 



/3"(:^^'70 



JZI^^ 



3" (lkA..''i^e 



M. 



HAIl 



-^^^ 



J~ 



~3Zi^ 



II 10 



j^^^ai^ 



/*I>'^:7fi 



(,^b 



rM% 



i.a<it?M'r^ 



IX 



'£lSM— 



2L 



l^aytcu^-c^-^^^ 



m^ 



-rr.^^:^ 



/f'ijf^ 3lc 



'J7 /A?^ Zg. 



y . /? -i-v ^. ?i/)->? ^ 



^ 



-^ 



y^i^^ 



-^^-Z/- 



/r^t.'3,i 



/^/y 



L^?.,>»-tJg^'?, 



T 



^ 



"V^^,w!/>- /^' ;^. '^A 







■?;? y^..^ 



/"fj^/SP 



L^^^-m..^ .^Tt-r. 



J^ 






■*-4-<>-f-^-^rr 



/)■ r,y^'>'Vc£/l^i 



'^./.A'. 



/; /■ 



r.i-.c^<iy 



u^ 



^, 



a,^-yi^^ J^J 



Oiayr^^<.ltt^ 



k.^.^uHrnV 



'JJU 






9}^^J1jJ 



m 



'r)Q/ 



/3.ft,r^ 



fr 'f/a^/.^5^f 



f/fJ ' 






'f'-ff^^J.S^ 



X. 



(.^n>l^ >^^. 



cJr^ 



3.5' 



_Sb 



^ 



'^h \*/ //(9 



-iC'Lt^i.^y J-y 



/S 



^ 



I tf J.^i 



IlJi. 



y^ 



aJ^^ 



,f?v/^ 



i^-/^ 






-/"^^y^^-j^^-f^ 



C-o-y?t-<a^»f>^-)»A. 



{(^-tX^tC^t^-^^ 



F^..^r::^Ay 



/^(X.n-y-i'C-c.yCc-Tt 



•i'7>'U, 






'<^' 



'Td-fs 



cM/A Iu.'hJ^aJI'JL 



;-<:lxv^ 



^'llua.Sd 



XS^^JL 



K -^^^ 'sn / 



6^7 



v^- 



fy .g 



k'Kls'r r'aJ^J-^ g 7^ 



CM^JJly 



'??l^lA^^ 



^^M'Jfy 



//IfJJ/r/y^ <nJ 



itlZ,.a><J^.'=i'4^Ci>YAJ*^^^ /^f^- 



As Told in County Names 



285 



j7u*/rUAUJuiuZ^ 



TI 



'--(i-C-t'i*^ 



'ZPC^^Cc^t^-^A^ 



J? 



,^;.^ 



l^i<^ M<Ai^ 



.(^yjJU-t-/ 



■U^.r^cfff^ r 9il 



-M.'^ hc.r.jJ 



121 



-^Ajr<Jry>vi^t^ifn 



^"^ yi fez^. 



gj. 



nJ-.e-yi 



4^^r^\ 



;Zfc->^ti^-^^^'^^ 



^ 



% 



,c£tw^K4c7^ 



C^y-^^^Uy 






<yvfA^o-viy ^" Z^. Sf 



%^^, 



SZlif-rrLtA^i'^^^ 



aU„-a^, n:6^'3r 



-#^ 



5C^£-^>-yt,y 



:^^ 



i^^2l^ 



X^yfTT-U^^^-^^ 



^^-/^ 



^^tJtjLA^ii'y^-''- 



2m^ 




^^^JL^ 



^^^Jk^-L^ 






-f tj,«--^-''>-T-CA^ 



Ou-^ccO.-^ 



s''r-aA^.n> 



j^ 



r_t£JL:Ui. 



U_(L 



,i4ft^ ',ii 



.s( 



v¥ 



X'?2l. sip 



r'Kil '-^ 



iZi,xJ^xyr<.-c^>4. 



Z7-UM-.S'7 



//"TnoA.Wi,^ f/f/ 



'J^ 



Jd. 



^ 



/^•^^^-•7^ 



XZ. 



'M 



'P3- 



S"%>^ 'jyJi 2i"J)L^i^ 



'3'9!a,'u'7^ 



i£ 



M- 



y/ 



<tA. Vi» 



/ 7 ^^«^, Vi 



12 7"fa^:s3 



' iroj^. V6 



:^ 



-22. 



■gj-"c2:<U-'»^, 



20' Sj^, '4q 



-r' ^/ '.^J 



y£. 



/5<^. 



ra,i^is± 



■au.y.i 



^- '^^-l V-^ 



/O'^O^^V^ 



Si 



^•^^.z- 



ir^^-^in 



T 



y. 



l^Z^^f^-a-^ 



■f 



Zi 



-^ 



.^ik 






JZJ_ 



AM. 



W 



7^d 



ai^ 



JJ_0_ 



^/j^-t^j ^^i-^l 



^/.? 



y^^-^.'^iAr^yn^ 



S/0 



Qno 



— r 



.iL££. 



^ 



2<UWk 



'M. 






^ ',,24<^ ', ;^/; 






_2y7 



//,? ^ 



lAAh- 



IJjhlL. 



£_0A. 



Cy^.,.ct^^Ji^dj 



/2k^ 



Ok..^tlA^ 



al^tt^ 



/2.i^It^K4^^. 



Ti AM-Am.*-*^i^ 



m^Ji.a^yrU 



^^j-AiJa- SoJ/a^ 



C&Jf-u.^lyrruJ 



^y^^^^t^i^^^ 



^ 



r^^^^rciu^^Mej 



^^Aj^y'J^ 



O^^^iU. 



'^^^■yuAt^ 



^/j , y^^i-Ji.ajrjLU 



'?/.MJ ^^^^ 



7/:. X-aS^. 



J4 j'vy^^ ;^a:<j^ > 



')/j^Jiu*^k 



I /T^t<.^>^»^-<»'*»^ 



?I:t.r^^xU^y U'7' ?^-^i^ 



^2l 



M- 



(2^.^ yt. 



lM. 



42_^^ 



X 



^.Q^J^^. 



^JLi]MJ^ 



ik 



f ro 



'±£. 



■^■M- 



u. 



''Ax-nJl, 



*JM<-!U 



#* 



'ilk 



'JUL 



ii<:;cjtt^'n^ 






286 



The History and Geography of Texas 



ZS. 



9^nJ:UyfAf^ 



^(yiyf.--2^-^ 



t 



''..^■T^-i'.J^ 



C^i^i^ccf-^^ 



(P. 



'jA^f^Z/r-^s^ 



■£^ CZ'UW^ 



O-^^ 



.U^^tj 



^ItmJlvAt^ 



''rruitty 



j6L^..rr.JJy r'KAJ.'n 



%ut^ 2amjtl> 



y^^ y ^^^^. 



^^ 



-^f~-i>-ry( 



%jX^ 



H-4^i£{in^ 



jl-V/inA^ 



JLiJt^x 



'kbJ'huAJ 



MyO<A.->yilJ 



Jliu^Jt^o^ 



Jl 



J^^yt^^J^ 



i^^/^^ 



^^"^iS-u-^^Zd-r^ 



6?»a<:^?xL-<^*->v 



Oi...r^^^M^'y 



-^^A^y^yi^ A> 



m\r^ 



T 



^r>i>l,^i^T^<Ly 



fr<^:n 



^ 3't^.fi 



-L2L 



Qty^cAoj'CLjJy 



'?"^2^:^i' 



US. 



■^"^^> '-rr) 



flL 



-'^'^ 



'^ ^ 



L,K7^>r^Z^^ 



a^<M.'<..^09*'''L^€ty>t.^ 



■> 



/ "A^ '1D 



ii,3-^ 



ss- '9f!a^, 'j/(p 



1XM0L 



^^i;? 






X^^-^- 






24- 



TtJ/3 



m 



^'dkta'iQ 



C^-f-fcUAy 



:i^"%c^.W6 



n- 



/'^^ 



C.uh<MM^ 



'dt 



VO (,D 



J^oAjXfyrU^ 



fr%l. 'jw 



i/-au 'ih 



"f2kA^„ 



i^ 



t_lA£^ ^^^idoa&n^ 



oMJ^ 



<^^^^ 



p/U^>^y 



/i>"^cu^"M^ 



^•^v^ 



IMjJixxaJ 



CJo^^t^hJiJ 



12 CU,A,. 'n ^rC^T^ 



■ .. iy-. . ^ .. . .. ^ i r ,|| |---TyM 



2fa^:¥i> /.VjL^/f^ 



L-gj^. i^7rrLL:Tf 



^/jr 



^ 



4x£ 






'AijtL^t.iJ^JJj^ 



"^-fflf/'^^fTTTi- 




tMzl^ 



~J aXolA) 



(UMiy 



IS. 



icLfi-<^^<^ 



iT'7yi^'.5o> 



v± 



,v^ 



T^ 



\LQJlL 



c£,JLu.jL 



JLL 



(M^uA. 



/'y\..'CL^inAtJU^ 



l/"7haM '^6 



62. 



9?l^i^Ay^ 



^"^W r^ ^d^^.'/o- 



':!^ 



^jn 



/2».'^^6v^ 



±2J^ 



nntPJ^^'^^ 



3z^ "h^T-,. 



C. 



^ 



£J,J^ 



mJ^^^^TT*. 



'/"f^^jA^^^.-t^^nj 



fiPf-^Ji(yiy 



cM^ 



MM 



C^-l^ 



(-^JU^M^\ . 



flyix-^jy 



M-a^J'^'i^.y 



C.^Hr4^ 76 " T??-^. '¥( 



CU^ z'J-'D. 



T 



r^-^^^;7f/^-^.^W Z7jr A 



2J^ 



II- 



^ 



s"9i£,'(po 



'(Ljth 



/VV^^.!?/ 



>' '^1aA,'i^ 



/■■'f-d'^f 



U 



JjL 



LZin 



//■•dj^, '70, 



3''aiLi. W(p 






n 



'^r(U.-^L 



? "iLxyrt,. 



S-£ "[L^.'SS 



> v"?A:n 



^ 



u 



^7:(Mu'^ 



>v 



'f Tn-^ 



^ 



cj-Z-^Lh,- 7.^*1:1^ 



a<^^cJ?y^7 "(^.ift 



4 



'f 



9¥^ 



71'^'/ 



^^0 



^^ 



AGO 



ZAL. 



^^1^ 



vjr3>^ 



^^^^ 






f^y 



^ 



Wry. 



-at^^uM. 



f^^l.^^ 



S-trytJ'-lA^y^^ 



'^yyT^^-u^ 



uJU 



'7yiM^:i^.->^ 



d^J"!^ 



£a.t,->a^viMi' 



%nAuM^ 






^ /t^t-(U.-t<:£^ ..e>teuXZty^ ..JtJLy^Ui-J /f'f ff 



As Told in County Names 



287 



c^_,,tA..C>2y'-^V^-T^--^^^^ 



.tb-^x^ty 



//Itt'ru^'^t'CUubc 



Ou.yaXL*^ 



(P^\^A^>^^.iaJL 



CO,..<^e>y 



(3.— x^ 



C*-iynty 



^/>>^i2^ 



OlXt^ 



^O-^r^ia^ 



.^ 



— ^"w^-TZ^^t^ 



3" 



^ 



_Z^ 



£'7tViM\<h 



^^■3 



^C^.C,xaJ(tt^\y 



/I "2^. V ^ 



2i'nLkA.'i 



f^^ 



i^^i,.-<rt.*^^<-^vu^*^ 



Vj.-ra(^-^ 



Sl^a'-^<i^f-rT^ 






A3<^ 



c^.^,..Mj 



% 



;r^.j^ 



e^r^lZ^4»-7<^ 



0/^JJjL- 



/7'%i*^.^(^ 



II 



'■f¥ 



'Hk 



fC\( 3^ 



J^-c^-'i^C^^ 



/C^'T'Z^ 



/fe^^-^ 



^^c^^t^ 



3i'a^,.yo 



V,LrA'^l 



^^/ 



'^'^'^^^^-'-^ 



/Ort.t-7Cy\ 



^t^L^-g-a^^ 



/IZ^-rt^'t-fjr 



/- ^^ -^^ 



^"IhoA.. '^ 



_^ii^ 



tQ-^'^n^^vylX^*^ 



^.^^Aa-rvi.u^'itJi. 



srd^. yO) 



2£lk&^ 



-^^TiAf^J^m^th'TT. 



-W- 



^2^cy*^Ayn^um^ 



.uJmJ 






•La-yv^o-^ 




A^c^lO 



niMt£^ 



WL 



f- 



A2. 



-U>a-^'>^<.^ 



J^C^-&JLe^^>-^<i^ 



^?? 



y^-it^^c^a^c^^-^ . 



^^^£^^-c-2:^i^ 



_|£ 



-^ 



S^a^'<i~-co^, 



^^. 



^ 



X^-ii. 



2L 



^ 



;?.y>r 



,^^^^^^a^^^ 



i^^j^c<C<^-<M^ 



UL^ 



■^^^^-^^-^ 



i7"9ij...:^ 



'&- 



<r7,7 



'')U..^^LJJ^ 



(^ic*.^^ /:/^.^a.y ./:^f-r<J- 






'Qyi^^^ 



4^ 



^/T 



^ 



JLiyiy COtLOnXM'^ 



-/2e,c^ 



iT'^^f^'X 



M. 



7 



^ 



0^cyr^^:<i-^ 



-:^-^<^OnJy 



•C^AA^t^-aJi^ 



.t£Lc-<^'i'-jx,J!^ 



iilM:^ 



£2^t£ai£. 



^/^3 



i^JL.JU 






ZlSllSL. 



7'/ 



^A^«-t^-fur 



^ 



vln-'nii 



A^: 7(l 



/s-zZ-o 



^^^^2I_>Il2taJL. 



/f/--^. 



^ 



./2Z^ 



/gff 



JL.^^^.x^^ 



Mi^r^^dL^ 



f?if^. 



S-L2=^ 



7a/A'i^4^ 



'2li 



iLxxU^ 



7l..^^f^y 



'4h 






uz 



^ 9^ 



j^ 



K-J'i^ 



C^l^^AA^'jt^ 









288 



The History and Geography of Texas 




.■^t.<L..^u^ £>6uZA.,yjL^ /<^i^ n^r. 



As Told in County Names 289 

Fac-simile of parts of the treaty between the Republic of Texas 
and the Netherlands. 






^/jrc->-r-> I 



X7 , . 



^/a->i ,^ec-/e-v'^< ''•'^•-^c-/i'''^ =^ee^i.ri^ ^^rt^ay'<:-y^/-yi^'!''^- 



x-ttt-^ 



v^i ^-^X/e-^cx^x C^^c^-^a^r- ai^&-^~ C-y^^ir7:r r ^t.^^ ^^ ^ ^cy^r ayi'-y 



z ^£^1 -p^^t 7t ^^//e^zac^x cy^c^^t^x.'r' exe^^^ 



y n ^ ^ 






19 



290 



The History and Geography of Texas 




. C^ ^f / <>T>Tt;.-»-7 c-*/. 



t^ c.-*<^ Ct, eA^-f^ 







^a,r-7 <:'-7tyx 



i^-^ -Zcf-i if ifc^ t a c^ -f^i ^J a ef^ ^3^T?-7^ o 



e cc^T-^'Z^a x^r' a ;^-T e t -'-^ ''d 






^^^ 









As Told in County Names 291 

Treaty between France and the Republic of Texas. 



JrcuQk c*. Zc%. Cc^coi. C'c ri^o/.x. -^-Uou^n J*yc<nc<^ and %^( ta^ 



292 



The History and Geography of Texas 



cU 









r 



() y )- JIG" 67bvio a^ COot^v^a-iic/ 

touXc/t) cA^ onoLcnne^ <Ls^ Ji'i/i i-t. o -i CU o i/io uim il Ooi^^i— - 
con'tt/Mvi^/a , CLmiL ck\ic tt/s CX-tri-c'c^ a, () i vH vuTt e to ant 
vt Oin.yc*».t , Uj tclaro iXi ^ r«^K-l |vOim' IIovi-j avi-e-^ 

<xcctnZou/i , }.aXih,oiA/i M coii.p,tvu.ou-ti iJj'OJTltitci-ni e/n 
Tot M ■rvixxoli^ oit. ^\-oi ci,t tco owJct^'w t/t c(.€- cti 



j'bJei 



IVVO LCX.6C£/i'VV,C/M^~ 5cvn^ i(XU^OU/:> vl CO^v^t-tVeM/M" 



^ 



:i 



rivctfc^ctc/ atte toiOM^ On. fot (^ qilou,, 1io\i^ o^'n'ows tan 
tl' Octet t-c cLe. C 0U< <a.t uto-ce, t*vil (iiui ci-i.ti t-(.iyicrt t.tuf 







As Told in County Names 



293 



Treaty between England and the Republic of Texas. 



u/^(Tn^ diZd-c J fe^&nM -jAoM- Mi-ym, ^ <^/f^£yCeyLa ^ ;:^%^<^A</ a, JyeaJZi erf Ctfryi'*n£f'^ oytuL 
aj .Lo-KiOrn ff*t tAz- J^ur{U*<-^ '^''^- ^ -A^ivn^yU-e^ ^ uvk, CAt fe*t^ of Ov.^ Jurfd- 1}hji^ 

uvrd. n-r urrrrvL ^ a^ jHnZon^': 

iOL C<m^yy^^-rc<jzt i^K tlr c^7i/yi~it. uaM\. &txok, (rike-^^ ha-i/e yi-imi.i.-n-aJcc^ a^ Jhi-OT Pu^'yu.^ri c^tyt^ 

."vol Cc-u/noiU , a. .y^i^^-'^^O-^T' trf /ii/rii^a-ym/rLt JUvuiAt Qrzi-tut Cno^ /rf tht. 'hur^r — i 
•'Wm-tti^ ^Tzit^r ff ^ f^<UL- a^yiJ, iU^ fb.ntcL.ri^m .cA. Hu^ij.^ fjvyiM.f^ ^e^tiii^ 



294 



The History and Geography of Texas 



life Lavu^ ^Ui^ autuL co^yM-^Koi '^Jct CrUAH^oiCci*^ aJlfte^cU^ A<jce- 
(i/LfiyrovtJ, a.<uu/itid., a*<d, /uf^Ji^rynjuL '*fii^ ^CL'tHjL, tti- ol£L a^cL Uf-efu nu- of *^ dfilMi^ 

oJt utAj^cA, iychoMi, (mmJmA. tfU, ^f^et^ XeJ- <rf tht^r lUtcfUL Jtctwdcyvi^ of- ur&iL-t—- 
Qt'^AieM., 4*t "S*fc yta*^ gj At/T iLffrd (h^JL- Mou^a^d. (*fhJr fU^^dfcU. a*u£ i^crrtii ofuir a-yidL 




As Told in County Names 



295 



Boundary Treaty between the United States and the Republic 

of Texas. 



ua^vy 



v^^-^^ 



tz^aJ '^'yZ^^^V'Zyz^^^ 




<Jo a.^an^M^M^'^o^a^ Jn^z^^ 



^^iT^l. 



/f^^yUJ ^ U^n£^ti^u£?a-^t^ 7^t^ ^yf^^ syi:X>^^^ 



ZJi^yi!^7u>^6^i^/^^^je,^y'Z^t^^^ 



a^rz^c/z^J^^^^^yt^c^ct^^^y/^O^^ 



^^ 







'^<^^A^ ,C^ 






^ ^i^^u>t^^•. 



296 



The History and Geography of Texas 




^^i/u-e^n, x,»i-<5<^£-i. "^n^. ■n.O'n-^ u^ Che. (&<£■ ^^ ,i4/)3yl n- , 
s^a^^iAa^ ■ru>L^i^fiC\£.e'(^ ,;t-i-^-.<?G t^huA.^- ex-arur a^t^ 



As Told in County Names 



297 



Population of the Leading Cities and Towns of Texas at 
Each Federal Census, from 1850 to 1910, Inclusive. 



CITIES 
AND TOWNS 



San Antonio 96 

Dallas fl2 

Houston 78 

Fort Worth 73 

El Taso 39 

(ialvestoii 36 

Anstin 29 

Waco 26 

Beaumont 20, 

Laredo 14 

Deni.son 13 

Sherman 12 

Mar.-hall 11 

Paris 11 

Temijle 10 

Brownsville 10 

Palestine 10 

Tyler 10 

10 

H) 

9 



1910 



Cleburne 

San Ano-elo 

Amarillo 

Texarkana 

Corsicana 

Abilene 

Greenville 

Corpus Christi 

Wichita Falls 

Port Arthur 

Greenville 

Terrell 

Houston Heig'hts. 

Brownwood 

Waxahachie 

Hilbboro 

Ennis 

Orang-e 

Taylor 

Long-view 

Sul])hur Si ring's. 

Weathtrford 

Bonhani 

Denton 

Brenham 

jNIcKinney 

Yoakum 

Sweetwater 

Belton 

Br^an 

Big- Spring- 

San Marcos 

Uvalde 

Mineral Wells 

Crockett 

Stamford 

Marlin 

Childress 

Victoria 

Eagle Pass 

Ballinaer 



,614 
,104 
.800 
312 
279 
,981 
.860 
,425 
640 
,855 
,632 
.412 
.452 
,269 
.993 
,517 
482 
400 
364 
321 
957 
790 
749 
204 
250 
222 
200 
663 
S50 
050 
984 
967 
20", 
115 
669 
521 
314 
155 
151 
074 
844 
732 
718 
714 
657 
176 
164 
132 
102 
071 
998 
950 
947 
902 
878 
818 
673 
536 
536 



1900 



53.321 

42,638 

44.633 

26,688 

15.906 

37.789 

22,258 

20.686 

9,427 

13.429 

11.807 

10.243 

7.855 

9.358 

7.065 

6.305 

8.297 

8.069 

7.493 

1,442 
5.256 
9,313 
3.411 
6.S(10 
4.703 
2.480 

900 
6.S60 
6.330 

800 
3.965 
4.215 
5.346 
4.919 
3,855 
4.211 
3,591 
3,635 
4,786 
5,042 
4,187 
5,968 
4.342 
3.499 

670 
3,700 
3.589 



2.292 
1,889 
2,048 
2,612 



3.092 

692 

4,010 



1.128 



1890 



37,673 

38,067 

27,557 

23,076 

10,338 

29.084 

14.575 

14,445 

3.296 

11.319 

10,958 

7.335 

7,207 

8,254 

4,047 

6.134 

5,838 

6,908 

3,278 



482 
2 852 
6.285 
3,194 
4.330 
4.387 
1.987 



4.330 

2.988 



2,176 
3.076 
2.541 
2,171 
3,173 
2.584 
2,034 
3,038 
3.369 
3.361 
2,558 
5,209 
2.489 
1.745 
614 
3,000 
2.979 



2.335 
1.265 

577 
1.445 



2,058 
3,046 



1880 



20,550 
10,358 
16,513 

6,663 

736 

22,248 

10.013 

7.295 

3.521 
8.091 
6.093 
5.624 

3,980 



4.938 
2.997 
2.423 
1,855 



3.233 
3.373 



1870 



2.603 



725 
1.354 



1,351 



1,79'; 



1.232 
794 



599 



1.627 



1,525 




1.854 


921 


2.046 




1,880 


928 


1,194 


361 


4,101 


2.221 


1.479 


503 



12.256 
9,382 



13.818 
4.428 
3.008 



2.016 
1.386 
6.348 
1,920 



■ 4,905 



686 



80 



2,140 



313 



281 



742 
163 



538 
602 



1860 



2.534 
1.240 



8.235 

4.845 



3,494 



1,256 



175 



153 



621 



920 



192 
319 



1.986 
522 



1850 



3.488 



1,189 



150 



806 



298 



The History and Geography of Texas 



Rates of State Taxation and Taxable Values, from 
1846 to 1914, Inclusive. 



Stiue 
Tax* 



School 
Tax* 



Siaie 
Tax* 



School 
Tax* 



1847 
]848 
1849 
1850 
1851 
1852 
1853 
1854 
1855 
1856 
1857 
1858 
1859 
1860 
1861 
1862 
1863 
1864 
1865 
1866 
1867 
1868 
1869 
1870 
1871 
1872 
1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 
1877 



$ 



43 

46 

51 

69, 

SO. 

99. 

126, 

149 

161 

183 

193 

224 

294 

256 



.562.50-) 
.812.537 
.241.589 
,814.615 
739,581 
754.094 
155.114 
981.617 
521.451 
304,025 
594.205 
636.818 
353.266 
315.659 
784.482 



35S.101.8S6 



122.749.123 
170.500.545 
144.260,244 
149,655,386 
170,473,778 
222.504.073 
208.508.372 
223.410.920 
244,510.558 
249.275,979 
256,704,189 
319,373.221 



■'0 




'5 




90 




15 




.]5t 




.15t 




15t 




15t 




15 




.15 

.15 




.12 




!'> 




• 16g 





.50 

•'0 




15 




15 




15 




.15 




.55 
.53 

.52J,- 
50 




50 




50 




50 





1878 
1879 
1880 
1881 
1882 
1883 
1884 
1885 
1886 
1887 
1888 
1889 
1890 
1891 
1892 
1893 
1894 
1895 
1896 
1897 
1898 
1899 
1900 
1901 
1902 
1903 
1904 
190;- 
1906 
1907 
1908 



. I 



:S ;!o;! 

304 

311 

357 

419 

527 

603 

621 

630 

650 

681 

728, 

782, 

856, 

856. 

886. 

865. 

860, 

850, 

854. 

854. 

922, 

946. 

982. 

1.017. 

1.064 

1.082 

1.139 

1.221. 

1,635 

2,171. 



.202,424 


.50 


,109,163 


.50 


.470.736 


.50 


.000,000 


.40 


.925.476 


.30 


,537.390 


.30 


,060.917 


.17^ 


,110.989 


.25 


.591.029 


.25 


.412.401 


.25 


.084.904 


.10 


.175.564 


.20 


,111,883 


.20 


.200.283 


.16^ 


.526.600 


.15 


.175.395 


.15 


.120.989 


.15 


,910.567 


.25 


.309.246 


.20 


.894.775 


.20 


.619.635 


.20 


.927.231 


.20 


.320,258 


.16^ 


,187,865 


.16§ 


.571.732 


.16s 


.948.037 


.16S 


.779.775 


.16 = 


.022.730 


.20 


.159.869 


.20 


.297.115 


.12.1 


.584.363 


.61 i 



.12* 
.12^ 

.12i 

.i2i 

.12* 
.12* 

.12* 

.12* 

.12J 

.12* 

.12* 

.20 

.18 

.18 

.18 

.18 

.18 

.18 

.18 

.18 

.18 

.18 

.18 

.20 

.161 



Clen'l 
Cev. 
Tax 



School 
Tax 



90S $2,174,122,4 80 

909 2.309.803.626 

910 2 388.509.124 

91 1 2.515.032.745 

9 1 2 2.532.71 0.050 

9i:! ; 2.680.966,746 



6i 


.161 


5 


.16S 


4 


• 16» 



914 2.743.078,976 



. 1 2 .1 
.10 



.12* 



.16S 
• lOR 
.17 
.21) 



Confed. 
Pens. 



§('ertirit'(l by Comptroller of 'I'exas. 
tEelea.sed to the counties to enal)l(' tli; 
*Cents on the $100 valuation. 



Ill to build court hou.'^es. 



As Told in County Names 



299 



O C"! t.Z M ~ O 

•* CO O! C-. C l- 

l- Ot GO O IS O 



C J- ~ C-. 
C O C! O 
to t- C W 



'fTfCiOOOCWO 

«o C-: o J^ 1^ oi 1-1 cj 



T— ci (^•: -f o 



i> to rt i.O C5 o s> o 
0£~CK-t<Cli-^T-(,-J 
C5 ■* O Oi to t- Lt c~. 






0/ 









-HI „ i^ ;= 



-r i^ p -r p 



^ CC S P 






o 
0^ -e 



<1cc 



o _ 

> ? ^ -^ 



■K 5 £ 
c — ^ 'c^ j- -^ c is f= 

^H rt = O O c3 '" -i- cS 



o-r^aJTHO'jffiooaj^C'-Hto 
ThcoT--c<!t~No^T-^C'ncY:i.o 

W'*TftDi>CO'*'*-*OOCC 

o" cT t~.' cj o' t-^ o' r-^ 00 ^' cr: r-^ 

1-^ -^ ir: th -t c. 1-^ "-" o i-H CO o 



iH O C (M W CJ C O 

to <» to '.•; c> t- to w 
i-^ o' to' i-^ r-^ c^ x' f: 



Cl -* !> CC' [^ N '-■0 

' lo irt c: to CI "^ <z; 

« C-. N C ~ '" 



^ r-- cc L'; ^ to ro c to CO T^ C". C". 

t^ 1— w j> -* to T— '^ rt o to CJ rt 

^ cc X C-. o o c-^ oc -+ c^ c; to^ to^ o_ 

iro to' c: ci c: c; oi cc c cr- ro 1-^ T-T 8-^ ^' i> M s^ co' x' pi 

X — X ro •-- — N ro i^ o {^ c: ^ to i^ o o fc CO to X 

-t >— rt L- X PJ i-H_ c\! CO ir: N c- cJ re w to r-^^ w 

i-T W' CO r-T tH 1-4 rH 



C:-fxorrO'--t~tOco 
-f o o> w '-T ^ rt 1— r> 

O X X ro CO o CO >.o ^ 

C' t- CO !~4 to W 1-4 1-' ^' 

-f rf ^ o to to ^ rt rt 
o N i> cr. i-H i^ CO i-o 



r " > 



c -t- ^ 'O ro X c; c; ~ c> -+ " lo c: — c -f -+ x lo c"! >o 

^ 05 J^ C I- O: — C ^ -- — to X C. « l- CO — I- i-^ X C"! 

t- Ci O P3 ■+ X C l^ C; C> O to to C- 'T l^ W t^ X ^ I- C: 

O c' to lO 'i- -+' P>' CO t- X cc' c' C> Cn X OO' oT 1-4 X CO to O 

Tti O ■* ?^ C l-O [^ Ot -+ i-H iM lO to C i> rt< CC! X X O to -* 

i-H '.o (M CO 1-1 >ra to o o X i> i^ i^ c: M »n to (M -* Tf t-o OT 

co^ i-T 1-5' -^ co' co' j> r-5 Lo w CO co' o' ci w' J> c<r Tf co" co' 



xocooo'-rcocox 

-f t- to to c: C-. CO c- -+. 

C -* 1-^ Tl^ X N i-0_ 1-; X_ 

N o ?— ' x' -4 to t-4 -f Lo' 

Tf t- (N O 1-H ^ X 'O lO 

>.o ■<* cr. o c: CT-^ i> o: cr. 

t4 ■* ^' to 1-^^ co' cT 



1.0 t- 1- 


f^ 


X 


!■-> 


,,^ 


tO 


^ 


OJ 


"-0 CJ 


o 


>.o W CO 


to o to 


1-H Ci to OO 


C: t- 


X to lO 


X 


,- 


to 


^ X X 




o 


r; 


-f 


J^ 




CO 


-* o 


c> 


CO CM O 


^- C-. t- 


O to «.0 l-O 


1-^ to 


oj to c; 


t^' 


C- 


-^ 


c •+ 


t^ 


»o 


P! 




to 




CO 


X c 


t- 


>0 'tf L- 


£> CO O 


X X CO (M 


O CO 


• O t- CO 


t^ 


^_- 


^ 


X CT 


^ 


c 


^ 


i- 


— 




»o 


to CO 


1^ 


'o C-. -^ 


t-- to 


-t- X 01 1- 


to X 


C 1- 02 


X 


to 


— 


C! ^ 
















OT 




-t- to 


^~ "' 






^ OJ 









Ph o 

C 0\ 



C >0 LO O LO <M 
LO t- O CO OJ X 

to cr. !> r- LO to 



c;c<>i-iTtiT-<ctotOi-)tocot>;r. CiCM 
Cii-^oj-fi— cr. xt^i--x — oJc:i-^o">to 

to CO C"- CO -f O 1— to CO CO ~ X o5 c. oi ^ 






>0 t^ UO t~ LO CO X ^ 

CO X >0 CO CO t^ 'O '-0 

c; o t^ o> to c 1— 'o 



(M X C -+ ct 






1) ;h cu -c ^ j£ 



.- ^-^ jil c 






4^ i x ^ C 

> B-s li; 2^ 



300 



The History and Geography of Texas 





c 


c 


C-. 


X 


X 


-t 




w 


50 


■^ 


to 


-* 


to 


CO 


o 


-r 


C-. 


c 




o 


— 


c 


c 


^ 




c 


00 


Ol 


c- 


c 


<= 


CD 


— 




■ 


c c c-^ L- — C 




X 


-f ■■-H 


t- w cc 


to 


c 


Ol 


01 to 




o 


0! X 


X 






to 




oo c 


wt 


c 


-t ~ 


-— >- 


50 T- 1- X ^ 




»^o 


~ t^ 


i-O x_ ^_ 


t- 


^ 


CO 


C^ CO 




CD 


^H to 


to 






t- 


to 


t- f- 


01 


I- 


cc CO 


a 5 


^' r^' ?! 






."■;' -f 


— - CO 


0! 




t- 


^ y— 






0! 


O! 







^_ 




-f CO 






^' oi 


— 












































P^ 












































H 






























































y 


D 






< 


























"o/ 




































c 








W 




























































'7" 








•j: 
















i 








c 




'^ 




























2 


^ ' _■ 


> 

Z 

D 




-1^ 

'5 
.B 


Il 








■ '^- C X rt 

■c i; ►^ "c I' 


a 


-1-2 

'5 


a; 


1 i 






"x pC 

c — 




y 


^ 


=4^ 

0. 


t 


i 


z 


y 

1 




5 Sr- 

K 5 




•^2 C < ;:; S S 




K 


i § !^ O ^ O A^ O C (1, 




OOR C 


/~ 


■^ 


^ 


c 


Q u POoa; 


o 




C: X X X 




o 


C X 




^ o 


CO 




T-H 


01 




01 
















X X 




c 




cc 


2 


c 


l^ t~ t- c 




!<} 


JC o 




C: l^ 


CO 




03 


»o 




CD 








ir 








00 c 




o 






o 


cc 


W -+ ^ CJ 




I- 


X c 




CO ^_ 


X 




Ol 


to 




CO 








c 






^ 


CD X 




o 




to 


a 


>o' 


^ c' — ' '0 




~ 


-f' co' 




to' CD 


X 




C5 


-*' 




*o 








c- 








-t ^ 




01 




-^' 


p 


cc 


LO r- T! ~ 






I — I- 




— : ira 


1-H 




CS 


T^ 












X 






cc 


CO X 










c 


Tt- 


»-0 f— 






cc 




01 C2 


iH 




Ol 


OJ 












t- 






Ol 


C-. -D 










n! 










^' 










































S 






















































€/=> 


















































?^ rt c -t- — -c 


-+■ 




0.0. 


0! -1- !- 


^ 




7 








-t -t 


•+ 






CD 


x 


X ro 


01 


~ 




.tJ 


c. cc C-- -t- -t rt 


r' 


^ 


~ 1 — 


0! w I- 


cc 






r* r* 


c~ 


— 


C^. i~- 


!- 


D~ 


01 


»o 





0' '0 


^ 


o 


ic — 


p o 


5C C-. L- o - ,C 


C: 


'0 


— s 


X_ ".C -t 


T- 


CD 


~ 


CD CO 


l- 


~p 


X 01 


Ol 




00 


Ol 




'Z ^ 




c- 


-f CO 


r; — 


oi cc' -+' M-' {--' ^' 


t- 


»o' 


T-^ X' 


'— ' CO CO 


t- 


c; 


CD 


-t 


* 


Ol 


o* ^- 




f- 


(^ 


cc 


cc 


cd' ^ 




X 


cd' -+' 


^ p 


^ Tf ^t -o J- ^ 


— 


.— 


0* ;c 


i^ c ir. 


CC 


cc 


t- 


'O 


D* 


t- 


o> to 


to 


X 


C-. 


X 






t~^ 


-* 


X 00 


(i 






t 


x' -}■_ 
k-o' 


1- X_ i-O 


to 




01 


t,.. 




00 






?- 








^'^ 






Ol 01 


5 












































3 Mf 


ic l'^ ro "c L- .~: 


C 


ro 


X 0! 


0> ^ T— 


CO 


-f 


CO 


y-i T— 


7 


1- 


»o c 


— 


1- 


i- 


01 


I- 


f- c- 


^ 


ct 


CD' -f 


-Ili r-^ ^ 


CO CO O O -f •* 


o 


tr 


T— »-0 


cc t- o 


CO 


CO 


c* 


00 CD 


00 


-p 


»0 ^- 




C" 


c^ 


^ 


X 


CD 


c^ 


»o 


C-. X 


5:E 5 


Tt< cr. GO i-t r^ LC 


c 


X 


X C-. 


CI CO__ 00 


T- 


o 


-t" 


CO X 


X 


c; 


c; CD 


CD 


C" 


^■ 


X 


X 


ot c" 


01 


oo 


-t c 




C5 (z: c: o ci -f' 


J^ 


— 


^' lO 


oi of -*' 


o 


c 


o 


cd' a 


-t 


CD 


x' CO 


oo 


-f 


' I- 


?> 


X 


— ' .^ 




c 


^ tJ 


O r-J OT ^ ^ C-. 


?" 


c; 


t^ o 


th 00 to 


o 


X 


l- 


CO ^ 


O! 


o 


C-. 00 


oo 


C" 


c 


X 




c c 


to 


X 


lO t^ 


S c.£: 


O <0 W N C 'O 




»o 


~. X 


T^ -I' CO 


X 


CD 




■+ C-. 


C: 


00 


CO -t 






— 


1— 


l- 


O CO 


X 


c 


cc X 


«'~''-l 


N M CO 01 t-^ 




C^! 


'o' o 


OJ 1-' co' 


to 


01 


c: 


t-' tH 




-t 


rt 




I' 


^ 


^ 




ct ~ 


O! 


CO 


^' ■A 


TO 


€fi^ 






C! 












~ 
















^~ 










i-H O O ■* CO tH 


lO 


O 


t- i> 


00 CO X 


^ 


t- 


-* 


X OJ 






X cc 


cc 




t- 


~. 


„ 


X T- 




to 


O CO 




>* c ^ lo CO CO 


M 




C- X 


CO c c 


o 


O! 


CI 


o c 


to 


Ci 


X -Tf 


-*■ 


o 


co 


^ 


-t- 




to 




lO X 


cc O O ^_ rt_ CI 




-+ 


c c 




o 


-f 


-f 






to 


I- ^ 




l^ 




X 


01 


co oo 




^ 


f- -h 


O OS 


ci Co' >0 N CI 




^■; 


o' c' 


^ oi t- 


-- 


,— 


i- 


— r T— 




T-^ 






^ 






1- 


x' — 




p_ 


O! x' 


1—1 '"' 


<M W 






^- »0 


Of 


o' 




01 


01 










X 








0! 01 




















































^ 












































I-] ^ 












































D 


l^ O '^ CO CO CO 


t.O 


IM 


X ^ 


^ t- -rr 


CD 


'^ 


CO 


CO CD 


n 


CD 


1" ^ 




X 


— 


Ol 


CD 


X ^ 


Ol 


— 


-f -f 


eu o 


OC' «i1 CO CO CO -f 


5D 


*— 


^ N 


OJ C^ CO 


X 


to 


c 


C C: 


■00 


cc 


^. c 


o 


0- 


^, 


■+ 


cc 


'0 o 


c^ 


cc 


X o 


c S 


»n X Ol c to C 




■+ 


"X ~- 


Ol X ^ 


T-H 


CD 


CO 


i"— CO 


CO 


o; 


i^ ~ 


~ 


i- 


c~ 


c 


»o 


01 '0 


o 


-t 


0! c. 












































IIh -- 


t- 1-H -*■ c: C-. t^ 




tt 


02 -t 


LO X X 


t-' 

Ol 


CD 


cc 


—' -t 

01 






^' -t- 


-t 


0- 


0! 




-1- 


CO oi 






to' x' 


CA! 






































































w 












































































































































E- 






































































■z 













































































































































c 






































































u 






















-c 






































































-f-' 
















































7 


c 
;- 

y 


0. 


a 
a 
,^ 
c 
;- 
a 


•J 

V 

C 
;. 




r 


1 


J 




o 


c 


a 
c 

£ 


c 


c 


"a 


_a. 


0. 


1 
c 


c 


y 




y 

r 


c 
y 


re 


c: 


c 


y 


y 




_t 


•- 






rt ri ,c ^ ^ ^ 


^ 


^ 


[c c 


"c "c c 


c 






^c c 


%. 


!- 


^ ~ 


"re 


ct 


re 


c 


"i 


I 0. 






5 ^ 




L. 


L. 


L. 


C_ 


L 


J t_ 


i. 


w 




L, 


c_ 


c 


c 


c 


c 


^ 




^ 


L. 


Q> 


c 


c 


p 


p 


p 


^ 


p 


p " 


p 


p 


p 


p 


p 





As Told in County Names 



501 



o ■" 



?o' Cl OT rO -f' Tj-' rH r-1 i rH 



c c> C' C-. CD c-j 'c w «; 05 «o CO T-H 

COOO^OT-^'-^'.'^t^r-l(^!CO■*Tf 

00 cj "-^ -t< r-1 I.': i-H 00 C-. m 

r-T 1-4 ro' m' in Cfi of T-T iH 



i- 0. : — 



5 7 '^- 1 ^ 

Pd c £ i:^ K X S ^ ^^ ri fi, 



^ X ,:i S' 



CS i; 






w >n o i.~ c~. ^ cc i.o i.o c} o C". i> 

C-. ococmcjO'-j'to^c-. GO 

OJ O "O rH O r- S>} 1- ^ Tt t-- C^ rH 

r-^ OJ c' GV O £■-' to o' CC r^ N r-j' o' 

Tt- J> 1-^ >-< '^ ?! -t' O rjo O! 

C C: -t '--^ — . --T 0^ rt 



C-. CC 't t f 



C P! C> ?> 



C -t .-H ^ 



to s 



lo 1-^ «; c 't cc t^ t^ t^ C! C-. I--; rt w o ^ cc -f -t (^> t^ t^ 

CO GC --^ -^ -+ LC LO J- X 'X -f CO 5C CO X' ~- l^ Ci C' Lt L': CO 

CD to t^ CO rt c; cv; -.-) x_ -f C^ O cc^ '.-^^ C". ■— , i-^ c^ o_ r: -t- ~_ 

c' C-. to' to' cc' c; i-^ -t- to' GC -t^ 'M: c: i-^ to '-■^ 'm' to' li' , , . _ 

-J to i^ i— -*• ^ cj :^ " c: oi 'O ctt -t X' — o i~ •-': !^ X re c^ X 

c 



£ t^ -— ^ ^ c} :^t " en oi 'O X -t X c 

- - W ^ X ^_ -t O W 1-^ CO O '.O CO -f 

".o 1— ' ot -^ ro r- 



-— i^ O O £^ CO to CO C>J 

'o lo — to ;2; ~ 2 r:^ ^ 

-t x' -t- c; x' x' x' x' oi 

X CO -C Cl •-- l^ 'O 1.0 o 

>+ to C. I?? 0} C-- O! 



C-1 



.5 o 



^ E o 



to 



CO to o LO c5 C-. m o c w 00 CO CO c tv! to CO -t w ~ to 1-^ c; -t i~- to >c -t X X ^ i^ Tf 

t-C:-*tO>-OC>!tO»lOtOCOCOC:-+00>00^-7fCXtOt^^XOCCOX-*COtXt^ 
«0 X ^ T-H X to C W O >ra -* lO ".O l^ O! CO_ t- «0 O rp 00 O^ C C~. to O -f O C: r-f i!0 -* t~ 
I>J Tf Co' C: x' i-o' x' C5 C lO -+' -i' E-4 cr T-H 00 cT oo' o' ^' cT O; oo' 1-4 1-^ 1-j' rH Tf' t-4 '+< to CO c:' 
C:^XC;-ti-*OOC:COO-)<OClWtDXWO-*-*C'-IO'OC;COt^OOXXr-^X 
Xt-hXOXC: C-. CO'O-tt-OOXl.O-rt-COWtOXr-'Cr-'rHtOOiCOOt-OO-rfOOTftOX 

oo' T-^ o-i x' N to' C-. -*' M w w rH j> rH co' oo' cj th re' r-' tc' ■ ■ ' ' ' 



CO iH tf o 



r- X C: CO CO W 00 Ci X C X X ■>*' O O in to. KO Ol CO O M O rH CO CO -f o o 
:-/• ^ LO rr, to r+i rr^ r+H ^-^ r^> ce CO f-r ^H o in rH CO rvi nr rH nr CO' cj:> rH r!;, ry-i CD ?^ 



^ .,Clrt<ClMtOC0?>,,_ 
CI 00 £~ J-O {:~ C O >0 CO 02 I'J 

C' -t-' C; oo' rH CO co' W rr' to' x' ?c' "t 
lO Ol OJ CO O oo rH rH 

( 



..XNXrHCCXCO-fO 
rH rH W !M 00 X rj. CO 00 

•t x' od x' co' W co" r-^ r-i 

■>*• W CO rH W W 





rH 


(r. 


X 


„ 


^ 




_ 




CO 


CO 


X 


CO 


X 


;^ 


r^ 


I/O 


KO 


C-. 


I/O 


f^ 


-v^ 


c~. 




>o 


CO 


Ci 


>c 


00 


CO 


l^ 


>." 


•" 


^ 


o 


CJl 


r^ 


CO 


0( 


C-. 


c; 


rf 


3 


CI 




CO 


0^> 


CO 


l-O 


Ci 


lO 


f-r 


03 


Tf 


rf 


O' 


>o 


o 




-f 


o 


rH 


CO 


o 


r- 


oo 


r- 


o\ 


rf 


^, 


£- 


to 


»-0 


=, 


to_ 


X 


t^ 


".O 


to 


£^ 


^, 




•c 


x_^ 


Ci 


rf 


Ci 


rf 




c; 


o 


-t 


-"; 




f^t 


Ci 


<.o 


O-l 


co 


-"■ 


0! 






r: ^. ^ +- - 3^ = 



X i£ S rS 



c^ o '^ I — ^ — 



- -■.■■^- ^ :? =; r' ?- 






:doo 






c ~ - 



c3 rt 



302 



The History and Geography of Texas 






CCN-^CDi-loO^ 
■^ GC' Tf OJ Tt< C ^ Ol 



tOi-H!>o.>occ;o-*coc 



1^ lit ro 'f cc 



^ T^ T- C' 



-+ C5 C' c: o m ro c 

O -f C 'O 00 to -^ LO 
C-t^ X 50 C-. « CO t- 



s o 5 
-tf -1^ -^ 
C X cc 






S J J S I 5 :g •;5 .;5 



X 



^ a; 



? 5 
u ^ ^ 



= i: V 5-T c c S 

fi — C br. !■ 0- i :> " X . « 
C£^ t-^ Llj !5_ 



rt 



^KSoWccc^.^tE -ocEOcqcP-iaji-spqt-SP^p: 



= 5 i -J F E "^ -^ 



C1 


— 


_ 


ir; 


c 


C 


o 


c 




V 


-T 


C/l 


w 


(/) 


^ 


I-O 


rt 


t- 


?1 


W 


T^ 


W 


•^ 


t- 


•+ 


— 


o 


m 


o 


00 


o 


!^ 






-t 


(/I 


<^ 


Oi 


CO 


C-i 


^- 




a; 


■r^ 


M 


tH 


T-H 


ro 






!- 



K: ^ ot C' -f ~ -— C: l~ ~ ~. 
•— cc^ c cc ^ T-H ^ 1- — <-: M 

O W O CC «D O C. O C Tf ?! 



t^ Ot O O- ^ (T. ' 

W O C-. CC ~. -t< < 

Tf ':t ro c~. X i— < 

o' «o O o' cc -+' 'C « C: irj fc CO 't ci C i^' 

LO Tt< T^ rt c^j -+ -r^ cc 



c « *■: i- 

O LO C3 C^O 

K' t- 1-^ c/: T-i »ft I— 00 M 01 CO 



ro 



fO 



t- f ^ T-^ '-£ N CC CC 

cc '^ -t C-. O' — c: i^ 

X c -* c|. 00 c; ci w 

00 ■+' o' x' x' '4 C' 5£ 

00 [^ t~ X t^ w o cc 

-* CO J> t- W ^ OO i-H 



3 M-^ 






O '-^ l^ C 00 cr: — -f I- t J- X LO ro '.C — . C -+ 

00 C: 00 C; X 00 »0 '-C '— O 00 00 CO (01 CO i^ o »0 

CO X CO ■* r-J CO C> CO --n X X CO CO CO. C t— -I- X_ 

i-< lO O CO c' -I- x' o' O C C; !0 00 C -f 0~! ^ 'O 

C"> OO O «D M O OO -t 00 00 00 -f -t' C C-. O! -f '— 

CO CI t- ?> C C~. C> l^ 00 C O (M X C X 1-^ 00 ^ 

O ci C: -rH CO T-4 oo' oi -t ^ of co' oo' !0> C"! rt w -t 



<r. 


'/• 


o 


i^ 


<~ 


<- 


'/ 


/ 


X 


l^ 


CO 


-t- 


-t 


'-C 


00 


C-. 


(T. 


'CT. 


»o 


*- 


rH 


l- 


Oi 


I- 



m 



CO 00 i^ ro ro -t Cl ^' 

CO t- X ~. 00 00 0"! c- 

cv CO 00 oo__ -t- c^ T— c: 

O C ■* M c' c' co' T)^ 

00 X C> l~ ^ W ^ 00 

00 ~ O ^ ^ 00 5C Ci 



C50Xl>l~01'OCt-ira-*00(MXCOCOX-:frt<XCCl 
-f X t- I— oo Tt> ^ l^ oo CO -* Tt" CO CO CI O O -+ W C5 00 CO 00 
O t~ X CO CD ■rH (/; C: X 00 1— C. ^ CO 01 00 X O! O '-^ r-J 0>J 

,,/^ ro 1-4 PI -*' ~r "C — C. ?- 'O CI !- ~ C5 t^ >— -f 

OCO 1— — -f 01 01-1- ^- ^^ 



1— CO X ?^ ^ c: X c 

X C — 00 O X C5 CO 

00 i> x' ro' -t -r CI 



J>CiOCOOOC50DO^XOt-XX'*''-ieO!MCO?>'i-IOX01 

05C5-*05-*'-<i>000}5DCOOOOfflX^C5XTHt-Ol-'rH 
Tj<50IM(01C<!>'0'-Hi-Ht^t-^OOCOXiMX0}X'*_O^«0r-^ 
" r-T cT 00 C» th" 1-4 O -*" r-4 oT 



O C5 OJ CO t^ CO CO ^ 
00-*01t-^COCO 
rJH Ol C: 00 CO to CO Ol 

-t -+ Th CO T)^ oi co' 00 



22 *" a 



?: - 



K CS c3 rt k! CS a; 0; -r- .r-. O 



O O 






a^ c cs 



As Told in County Names 








' i-^ c 


5 : i- 


. - 




; C- 


C ~ C' c 




; -1- c 


; C 


; I 


, 


; X c 


: c ' 


tO' - 


- to to 




-. i 


to c c 


; Pl 00 C-. 1 


a 


c c 


!^ ; o '^ 


: ^ X i- s c: CO le — c co 


! 00 O O »— '- 


00 O 00 to PI O LO ".O C5 to p} 


^^ c 


J i "" '^\ 


I T^ 'X 00 -1" -f C". 'I" '— ro to 


! C Pi to *0 


rHrHLOO-^lOXPlr^Ml-J 












a. 2 


r- 


H ; T— 


: CJ r— T— ^r T— r- 


1 ^^ T Pi 


rHOOrOPJtO (MrOrH 




: T^ 






w 


— 












H 


























































X 




.; „ 


\j \ 










1 ^ 














I a. 






; : V 










■ V 




; ^ 




























: : ^ 




















; x 




















C 


-i 

•r 1 
= 1 




'3 f: 

; C 




•' - ^ c o c ■ -S'l^ ■ • • ' ^ t; S > 

; i y C y; o r- o .^ ^ C j: P S J= 
: = cS ,ty IT is ,=^ (S ci ;- t" r= O ,a- .r- -. c 




C P 


5 pqp^Ch^OEaoi-iCh-jCi-:] ■^J^S^-5«3;<paK;p:p^r■pIl^;<Cc| 


CJ 




; c 




; ^ 


t- t- E- ro -H oo -t 


: C-. c 






i rH X 


: c= c c: t — f 


: c X to X to 


3 




; ». 


^ : 


: »'0 


-r X C3 c O o to 


; T— 00 






; o ro 


: »_o ro r- rH 1.0 


: X Ci C-. rH C-. 


■^ 




; '^ 


D : 


; Lo 


; iro w X c; X o o 


: ^. '""^ 






: T-H in 


; P| X pj Pl '-o^ 


: 00 -t< ic i-o C-. 


r^ 




ex 


^ : 


; to' 


■A ro' T-i' pi ro' A o 


; ro' pl 






; O rH 


; c' to' c -A x' 


i Pl rH o to' ci 


^ 








; pj 


p} t- ^ I f- -f 


i-O 






; ro X 


; Lo 00 Pl TH P! 


: P! rH Pl C-. r- 


:: 








: c> 


■r~ ro rn T-H 00 








; to 


: ^^ 


; -* 


OJ 








; " 












\ ^'^ 




<-. 


























€/^ 


















50 C 


5 ; t- C>! C5 O -* 0-3 i^ 05 -!< M CO ^ C; t- ^> ir: O C-i 1-^ rH to O 00 O OJ CJ 1-^ W LO to 


^ 


o ^ 


. : C-. to t^ T- t- to OT -i- to 1^ ^ CO' "^ to M CO oi -t to to c-i t- m ^ -th >* w oi o od 


^ ^ 


-* rj 


■1 :-+ '-^ l^ C_ r^ o '-■; to c: cc -+ s to 1- T-H C: GO -t C3 ^ O -rH lO c» to CO l^ CC 1-^ c» 


- ■? 


o (> 


r i to' c' re •'^' !-' to' C! s rr r-' c! '.';' r-' t--' pj -t cv >.t' ic t-' >o' go' co M -^ r^ —h' ■*' «' o 




^ c 


5 ; c o: c-> to I- f- o CI ^ — -f w CO c c: t^ c~. -f GO tm 00 Lo c; i,o o c <-H X "O 


tH r- 


H ; N 0-: to T-H Ot rt C->. CO CO rn 0\ <l-D ^ „ i^ oj ^ lo -+ co co_ rH re P! C-! »o 




: re' ci r-' rt' c! 


ro ro 




=/^ 






s 








3 U-^ 


TtH C 


1 i ^ oo w -f ro 1--:. i.~ M Tf C3.cc o"} to to GO re ot >o t~ 1-; c GO o to to TT to t- ro t^ 1 


■3 = 


o -^ 


1 ;toWotOi-H'-ic. CiCiGot^ccrci-HtorotO'.ocr 


tXCrOXOPlr-tOrft- 




L ; "*, "'r. '^, ^. ^i '^. ^. ^l " "^c ^, R ®. '-': '^-. ^. w M ~- «^ '" -t C-. r- X ro in t- f». m 
r ; t~' t-' w >e' -t c:" o-D lo to' to' c'l (»' "o w co' t-' OT ira .4 cT c to j^' w f-' t-' »--■ o ^h a; 


Tji C\ 


! ; to irj t^ -* ic C5 C: t^ O) O W ro -f C: O t^ M M CC O Tf M CO C C3 i-t O I- t- C3 


O Tt 


: tO^ CO_^ rt( !> Tf tO^ to to CI W « CO W C. T'! rc c» to r^ 


_ LO^ "O x_^ Ti< o 00 J> X c;_^ Pl ro 


l^^ 


r-T T- 


i rH o' co~ re cf ro cf ih o" i-T of oo -A -A t- 


ro' CO Pf ro' t- rH OO pi rH C Pl 




: i-i 




%i 


€«■ 








O ?> 


; w J> -rJ Lo ro 1-^ >-o M M re o CO 1-^ ro 00 t^ c^i ^ ^ 


rOt-tOOPl-frO-rHrHtOrH 


^ § 


O rt 


: w PJ ro CJ o (M C-. t- o t- 03 to o 00 o iH 00 'O r' 


r-' c: to to t- P> X ^ -f to i.O 


tH Tt 


; 00 to to 00 ^ ".o o T-< ito i- (o> ro c-i -* i^ r' 


'O C C O f- C i- C l~; to x_ 


O t> 








C5 


; M CO CO CJ a: -f 00 CO Pi ?> i- o o 


LO' to' -t^' Oo' C-' r-' l-' pi rH* C-' ?-' 


H 
-^ 




: -i^ CJ rt tH 00 rH i-l 


'0 00 








I-] 








:3 


o -^ 


;i/0-*OWt-C0ClG0tO-H^NOC5-*0000(MC- 


COrt<,-H»oOrHmf~T:)HOHf 


C-i o 


r^ C 


: (M '^ Tj. 00 -* 1-- 00 ro CO OT 00 -* M TtH W ^ 1-J i^ -+ 


XCilrtOl.'OC-. rHOtOXO 




GO ^ 


; to >.e Lo >c t — ^ 1-^ •-•0 to to to -+ lO' (M to t^ ro ^ LO 


„ «0 "-O^ rH -* PJ CD rl< t-^ '^ J> to 


^-^ c^ 








PL, ^ 


CC 


;C5tO Ci-+tO00tOC-t>M00tO 00i-lOO>- 


' O oo' "O" ro' oo' rr' Oo" pf Oo' to' Ci 






: -t Cl ^ rH ^ 00 r-^ T^ 


rn -^ f- tH ro 


'Si 


























































W 




















































































































H 


























































z; 














































































































































































1— 


























































u 




















0^ 


















































'J^ 












































t. 




'I. 4: J 




_^ 




•ci 


c i 


c c 

■J. r 


c 


^ 


|.| J =1 d 


4 


r= \ 








a; i; c C P ;- a, 
f5 i" cs cS rt cS :i 3^ 




5 c: 0. = 3; ^ .= c; ^ 3 y;- 
■J. ^ >Oh^<5rr ;:;9^ — 
r2r:r;o;,wa,3>.xrzrz: 




^> ^> 










CH 


(^ A 


1-^ 


i-n 


•— 


i-1 


h^ »— 


>— 


1— 


■— 


1— ' 


1— 


1— 


1— 


1— 


•— 


^. 


^. 


f. 


<; 


<. -<. 


^, 


.-0 


.-c 


<*, 


t<-, 


<-. 


.-•, 


<. 1 



304 



The History and Geography of Texas 



<-I 


■^ 


-* 


~v 


-^ 


or 


<-n 


c: 


•rs 


o 


Oi 


^ 


^ 


r^ 


o 


o 


-t« 


CI 


— 


i- 


O 


o 


o 


-f 


(D 


J-~ 


w 


^ 


1- 


o 


-+ 


on 


?^ 


<M 


T— « 


o 


CJ 


c: 


o 


!- 


re 


^ 


iC 


o 


o 


O' 


CO 


C-l 






c 


^ 




l> 




1-^ 


C! 




C2 


lO 


•o 


w 


O 


-f 


•:.' 


C. 


c. 


^ 


•+ 
















'*■ 




-I- 


CO 






o 




C! 

















wmoococDo 

rt !0 1- O C' c re rt 
O X «' iC C ^ i-C 



0) 

C S 

?5 ci O 

^ -"^ I- 

o s p: 

o o 5 

O <q U 



T^ ^ - G 



C -|j 






33 c3 






' N .^ E I- N ^ t 

iH-rH CJ S O +^ CS J^ ^' .^ 

I ^ K c3 f-5 « ?, sh . 'r 



St 



HO 



cco^;:^Shp2p; 



CO N l^ 

«o ^ •-' 



o c 1-- o n 

■e o o aD C-. 

O CC O 1-^ 55 

of W ce GO oo' 

C ^ I^ o 

>o >o o 



CO ^ ot 
^ CI ^ 
CO ^ C 



t- <n in CO 
'C w tH <— 
o w w o 



Oh 



(M l^ t- 

»0 lO >o 
CO t- 8> 



OTfOXOOOCCTtCDOL'OO-^OC'JCCOOWO 

t-coi>cocowocor^'-'0'*<'^0'^wci«Ct— icocico 
Tf£>o^^«ocooor>t-coi>oococ5t-ocjco<rJ 



00 50 »n 

W J^ Tf 

CO O X' 



»-'oroo5WcooOTtico>n^oc50oo-*^t-coTt<-*-* 

0!OU0C5OL0-*C0C0O«D>0ff>JC0^'*"O-*Tj<C0G0 
TfWCOTftM'H^ l-^l.OT-l^- COCCtHt-H'^ 



O O 1(0 >-0 Tt< N 00 

M ^ C<! T-J GO rt< (M 

Tf to Ci CC J> rH Ol 

O 00 rjn' ^^ i-J CO CO' 

CO CO l^ rf I> to rH 

O (M N O 00 iro 



3 ho-^ 



COOOOO(35.HCOCO«.Oir>'tO>.OCOGOCO(N^-?> 
(M5DO^C0>.0 00OI^'-0-+-fC0WC0Q0CC00 
CCCOOWOC-OCl^rt'-^l^Ci'iOO'.Ot-CO 



O I- 



^ O ^ W C ^ O t^ i-O O '.O J> O « Ci CO GO CO 
O O O rH CO Ci CO irl (7J LO to O »fO c- to to »fO o 
CltOO;-t005 0}05tOtO^»CtDJ>lOOOt-C5 



CO oo 



00 CO C CO C Xi C". 

t- O N CO <-0 i.o t^ 

UO SI CJ o_ c-^ O Tt< 

LO' to' ^ 1-' -)»' c-j co' 

CO T-t to -* LO C! UO 

-* T-H 't W to T-H (M 

■^' W Co' i-T >!0 CO ■* 



iraOl^C30t~OOrt<S-!i-IC5t^Cii!0^-fCO-*OJ^OCOt^M 
uOOtDO'M».OiOt^X^COtO-*OC30WCOtOrt'0}!>WtO 

X X o cj w s\} to CO oj to -t w CO C5 w Tf X CO -* x^ to rH c; 

ci •:t l-^ CC tH 'f' co' t- oi O »0 O! ^' XO C't -t ^' CO to 



CO l> T-1 C C T-H Ci 

OS ■* ■* N X CO J— 
X X to to -rf m CO 



tOC005r-(02tOtOOOC5«ONlMXtO-^i-imi-(05"*Xl:~N 
■OCMt-tOCOOiOl^'.OCS'rtO'-lCJOCJCOlCt-lOW^Xi-l 
C5'^tO>rart>COTt<OXCl05tOX>Oi.OrfCO"-0 0-f-fOTt-CO 



OtOCii— i"0»Ci>o 

coincoxoiTfox 

x' Tf jvf tC x' o' 



T. ip P 



•- Z ^ ^ zi 



cs qij aj .p I," :/■- t. ^ = ^ +: - ir. -^ ^ i: y;' : 



5L2L2^L2L2=^^^--'^-^'-'^555aI'o'ot^'5rtaj£Ja/°ai'c'cc = 



i -^ c "n n''^ 



As Told in County Names 



505 





c 


c 


-f 


C-. 1^ 


c 


C! 


-f 


c 


^ 


c 


— 


c 


c c 


c 


c 


CO 


CO 


Ci 


■+ 


C! 




c 


I- 


— 


c c 


X 


-t 




X 


C 1 


{ 


C '--^ c: r-: C! '" ^ '- c: cc M cr C-- C "^t 


sex 


^ T^ o 


1— 




■* CO Ci CO C ^ X 




Ci X 


■^ r- i 


1- ci Tt -1- 7! T~ ''^ c-J CO L'^ -t cr -^ tc 


CO -t- t- 


W CO CJ 


l-H 




CI T-J CO X_ C_ LO -)-_ 




Ci Ci 


5 


ci ^ ^ ci ^ --1 c: 




^ co' C! 






co' O Ci r-i' i-i' 




o: >-' 








L- 






l-H Ci 






^ 


















i 

r- [ 






























































i •■ 




































r- ■ ■ 














w i 


o 


'2: 


■-5 ^ 






t^ 


L. 


o 




(1> 






4^' 

c S n 




c 


a 






'> 


;h 




0) 


o 


"-1 
o 




•rH ^< ;- 


.s^i 


1^ 

5 






2W 

cS ^ 




ai -< »:■ H P^ <^ CO 


PR 1 


u 


•rJ r-4 CC C 


t- i 


m CO >o: ; 


O ^ C CO 




l.O LO i 


CO X 




^ X -t ^ C l> LO 




Ot C 


^ 


CC CC' X T— 




Ci X CJ : 


X I- C! -- 




(^ c 




X i- 






CO CO -t Ci CO rH X 




Ci o 


Y 


^- M C-. '-^ 


"t ; 


— , — , ci^ : 


CO 'OX CI 




c] -r • 


X c 






l~ CI CJ_ CO CD Tt" LO 




C C: 


n: 


^ I't ^ »'; 


cc : 


c' ci co' : 


CO CO ci CO 




ct C" 




Ci a 






co' co' Ci lo' x' i>' r-^ 




Ci C-: 


■^ 


1-H r^ Cl C> 




,- -t c> ; 


^ C! 




T- 




CO c 




-t- — i- LO ^ CO 




T-H T-H 


= 


M C! 




CO ■ 


C: 








CO c 






r— '— r— CD ^ LO 






<^ 


V^ 




























00 K-^ C-. !M !- ^ Tt* C-. -+ re .-^ '1 't X T! 


X Xj c 


CO CO CI 


CO t^ "O t- LO CO Ci T-i 


I> c> o 


^ 


O 'C fC t- c 'fl 'O t^ •': t- "^ cc i- ;£: ~. 


C-. -t !- 


• Ci -* -+ 


CO !> Ci Ci LO CD Ci 'O 


CO rH J^ 


p o 


L-3 t- Ot <J^ £• f T-1 CO C l^ N t--_ CO CO C! 


X l- O '-^. -X X 


LO 7-H in X -f -t CO CO 


CO -t lO 


rt "^ 


to' cj r-' cc' o — ' o -Y C-' ^' -f 0! c; a: ci 


co' — ' c t-h' o ci 


O Ci O £-' -t t-' co' co' 


CD lo' CD 


fe g 


t- C-. «i •": c! •— CO ro i- C-. ^ c '-C — 'w 


<0 ~. X C". X c 




CO X X J- Ci X C X 


t- CO CO 


"O Ci CO 10 0! "0 r- CO -t- s c> I— ^ c> -+■ 


^- ^^ c 


! 1 f •' 




Ci I- C! — -t- -f Ci 


CI C! 


-; r-' C! 




ci 




CO 






€^ 












./: 














Ill 


Tf C>> (K CO CO CJ .-^ CO O CO C X "O C-. c» 


O CO c 


. <o C-. o 


^TfLOC-t-CO"— o 


CD T- -f 


(M CO J^ CO OT t^ t- t- C-. "O CO -f X i- CO 


C-. CO X C-. '- CO 


rt-r-lT-HC-J-COCCO 


CO X ^ 


N CO W cO_^ Tf- a:_^ 'i; i> T-H ,-H co^ T^^ -t X 'O 


t- 'O^ O I- X t- 


t^ LO X CD Ci X W X 


LO CI CO 




CQ Tl<' c: Co' C o' >o' x" i^ C Co' T^ C~. !- c' 


lo' co' Ci CI c; x' 


lO T-4 c co' x' c Ci CO 


1-' CO cr. 


>-o X c: (M ^ o r- X w c CO ^ c X c>> 


lO I> >o CJ -* X 


X C C: ^ CO CO Ci ^ 


00 C LO 


p ^ > 


(M8>CilMC<Z)O^T-i^O'*i-^C 


t- -+ Tj< KO CO lO 


LO CO CO Ci 10 O X Ci 


CO^ t ^. 
















i^ J 


CO .^ S-J CO M N Tt< (M T-i -t (M CO 


^' ^' Ci T-H CJ CO 


CO rH ^ Ci rH r^ 


t-h' co' co' 


rt " 














Ph 


«? 












__. 


c; -f -t" f^ oj CI >o X "-^ (M -^ c X o: CO 


t^ 00 t^ t~ CD O 


XOW^CDCOOiCD 


X 00 oo 




C2 c CO t^ f^ CD ^ >.o CO >o o t^ cr. to CO 


C! X cj cj r- c 




^iCOiOXt^CiCO 


rji CO CO 


^ § 


C CO -* M CO 'O^ to T-H 't -h r- CO -r -r ^_ 


^ rH t- CI CO -t 


t- C! X CO C-; X C! 


C! CI 


O o^ 


co' co' x' o' ci 1-' ^' CJ c i-' co' — ' co' 


,-H ci th r-! ci o 


■A ci co' I--' O -r^ CD 


i.o' lo' 


':;; 


C> ^ C\> CO ^ 




LO I-l 


T-H Tj. r-i 1-1 i-H 




B 


CO C} -f CI !- lO CO -* ^ CO CO CO ■ o 


" c; c 


; CI M CO c 


Tj. CO Ci CJ O X o c 


i-< CO ot 


(1, o 


Ti- X CO -1- C -t- C~. CI O C! !- -1- Ct lO X 


C: C! CD ^ l^ C 




t- CO Ci X CJ CO LO CD 


O 00 ^ 


C ^ 

Oh -^ 


Ci '0_ Ci 'O Ct C! X Ci^ C5 ^_^ ct I- — . •-; — . 


-r CO •- 


; o LO c 


! ^■ 


^lO-fXCOf^CiC 


LO CJ_ CO 


co' x' ^' c;' t~' -r^ 1-' c' -f' co' T^ T-' C-' co' r-' 


^' lo' 1- 


H -+' X' co" r- 


T^ -f' co' !-' LO C! CD CT 


T-^ X' 


C! ^ ^ 1-H C! Tt- ^ 




O Ci 






■r. 
























































































































H 




























































2; 


J 


























































:3 


1 


























































o 


1 


























































u 


1 
































































1^ : : 


















































































































." : 6 


































: C 






















. -IJ c .- 






1 ^ 


























'< -*^ 


^ ; 


















t: -tJ c^ 










































oJ 


































0^ : 


















i b/,-r i i: ^ 


i ;^ 


: Z 


: T i - 


~i7t' 




J ^ 








i = 


a. : 










c 




^ 


1%<>^.^'^'-Z 


•-.?' >. "-^ ^' C : - 


— r 


- "7 E - 


n 






5 _y.' _^- ^ 

— > — n 




— "3 "^ 




3l555c3«T-;i:,S^Eci:i 


-*^ ^ 


'^ s 


t ; 




z'~p 5 > f >. J 


-^ c: — 




p: 


; y 


: 'J 


: X' L 


C 7 


: u 


1 Zi 


C 7 


; J 


. J 


: 7 


: 7 


s. -J 


7 


. 7 


G 


C 7 


; — 


■ r 


- r 


■ r 


- ^ 


r" 




— r- 


— 




1- 




K* I 



20 



306 



The History and Geography of Texas 



C rt ?! C O M ir; 1- c C ic 

■■■^ CC C: c; ci l^ 00 i-t c5 (M ^ 

r; c^i !>> -»•' -t ^^ oD ot 



rt T- 






a! "O 






c 't: 7 ^- o 5 c ^: ^ ;: = 
^ .^ ^ Z '^ t '^F f^ •>'^ t 



cS ^ .:r rG :i CL 

_ r- r- O •- -- Ct — +^ 






_ 


„ 


,^ 


.. 




^ 




.^ 




. 


X 


c: W 


CO 0-: CO 


^ 


c: 


c 


CO 




X 


-r 


Oi 


CT. 


:_:■ 


(- 


^ 


O 


y-~ 


-+■ 


cc CO 


X t- -* 


CO 


o 


o 


CO 


L-; 


^ 


(- 


r- 


(- 


.-•: 


r^ 


m 


~. 


'~ 


o 


O OJ 


CO CO "C 


«> 


t^ 


o 


»n 


in 


CO 


T-^ 


C! 


f- 


f~ 


c 


O 


)^ 


C~. 


c-i 


^ CD 


O 1- o 


OJ 


cv^ 


<:w 


o- 


o 


i-- 


^H 


C-. 


o 


07 


Of 


«D 


-h 


-+ 


CC 


00 00 


Tf CO cc 


GO 


f- 


o> 


>^ 


00 


o 


i^ 


It 


^ 


X 


ro 


i-H 


O! 


o 


o 


ir: t~ 


00 OT 




^ 




T— 


€«• 










w 




^^ 








'* 


1-! T-H 











CD 




'-D 


Xj 


X) 


r> 


_ 


^ 


_ 


— 


CD 


-t 




-f 






(- 


^r- 


■r> 


C5 


t^ 


»n 


c; 


r-1 


on 


C 


'O 


^- 


C~. 


X 


X 


cr> 


-v 


X 


Of 


i~ 


X 


cr; 


-t 


-t" 


O 


»o 




•i' 


l.O 


00 


C»! 


X 


C-. 


CD 


O! 


X 


o 


*o 


i- 


XJ 


o 


XJ 


X) 


X 


(M 


03 


cc 


o 


c 


c 


•+ 


O' 


c; 


rt 


t- 


o 


„ 


o> 


-+ 


0^ 


i-O 


O 


o 


^ 


00 


-* 


c 


-* 


o 


CD 


(M 


CD 


f- 


T-1 


c; 


en 


o 


ro 


o 


T-H 


CD 




0^ 


l~i 


l^ 


00 


l^ 


c/. 


c- 


00 


t- 


T-H 


-t" 


CD 


(N 


o 


^-H 


CO 


t- 


XJ 


T-H 


fiv! 


CD 


oo 


•* 


t- 


^ 


N 




^ 


0! 


CD 


-^ 


-t 


CO 


i- 


-h 




i> 


w 




CO 




'-I 


^^ 











































^ 


X 


ot 


CD 


^^ 


^_ 


_ 


0! 


CD 


CD 


C-. 


o> 


^ 


-. 


rr- 


X 


CD 


o 


C Oi 


•-< S 


XJ 


1- 


^^ 


-f 


to 


C." 


'O 


-+ 


o: 


C^ 


to 


»~ 


CO 


'■.C 


T-H 


-t- 


O! 


-+ 


CD CI 


^ 


o 


X 


0! 


-t 


c~. 


X 


to 


CD 


X 


t- 


C: 


cc 




T-H 






»o 


l^ t- 


\j ^ 


'O 


ct 


'O 


-t 


_J 


o> 


^ 


CD 




'0 


to 


X 


-1- 




1^ 


„ 




CD 


-f 


HH '"' 


(M 


^^ 


^- 


^-t 




0' 


c 


, — 1 










r-> 




^t 


o* 








H 
















































































^ 


o 


rt 


X' 


C-. 


^_ 


C-; 


., 


X 


-f 


_ 


X 


CD 


0) 


_ 


f- 


01 


f- 


c- — 


Oh o 


»o 


o 


CD 


CO 


X, 


CD 


c 


o> 


to 


D: 


o 


0* 


CD 


-1- 


l^ 


T— 


,-": 


to 


C X 


o s; 


CD 


o: 


c 


1— 


oc 


lO 


•o 


^ 


O! 


c 


c; 


0! 


O 


-+ 


-t- 


-* 


cc 


CD 


X X 


iO 


•+ 


CD 


o> 


C! 


"O 


N 


^ 


to 


CD 


c> 


0' 


I^ 




CD 


C.7 




'- 


— ^ 




C! 














0> 








-t- 






01 











C3.S 

N ^ £ j^ _ -^ 

o j> ±; 'C ,d: 

rH -(^ ^^ ^- In y. 






, z: ^ s uj X a 



THE INDEX. 



Pag-e 

Alamo i:!(3, 137 

AiiH'ficain/at ioii of tlir niap of Texas .").'! 

Analuiac 141. 142. 150. 151 

Anderson 175. 2S(), 2\)9 

Andrews 127. 12S, 279. 299 

Aiiii-elina 2. I!. 4. 5. 2S5. 29!t 

Anglo- American Colonization .SO 

Annexation and U. vS.^ — Mexiean War 210 

Aransas : (>. 2S7. 279 

Arclur I();j. 2S(;. 299 

Armstrong- OS. 279, 299 

Atascosa 269. 270. 279, 299 

Austin 33, 34, 35, 3(5. 37. 3S. 279. 299 

Hailey 37. 2S0, 299 

Bandera 6, 7, S, 279. 299 

Bastrop 38. 39, 279, 299 

Baylor 213, 286, 299 

Bee 175. 176, 2S3, 299 

Bell 177, 178, 284. 299 

Bexar 9. 10, 279. 299 

Blanco 270. 279, 299 

J?orden OS. 69, 70. 2S(). 299 

Bosque 270. 284, 299 

Bowie 138. 286, 299 

Hra/oria 270. 284, 299 

l5ra/os 271. 2S5, 299 

Bi-ewster 194. 195, 2S2. 299 

iirlscoe 150, 152. 290. 299 

Brooks 227. 2S7. 299 

Brown , 71. 279. 299 

Bnrleson 151. 152. 2S4, 299 

Bnrmt 104. 279. 299 

Bustamente 47-48 

Caldwell 71. 72, 28!!. 299 

Calhoun 214. 215. 2SS. 299 

Calahan 144. 279, 299 

Cameron 171. 28S. 299 

Camp 245. 28(). 299 

Carson 105. 106. 280. 299 

Cass 215. 210. 2si; 

Castro 208. 209, 2S0. :iOO 

Chambers 40. 4 1 , 42, 2S4. :!00 

Cherokee 264. 285. 300 

Childress lOG. 286, 300 

Clay -^3, 54, 55. 2S0. :!()() 

Co('hran 139. 280. 300 



308 The Index 

Page 

C'okf 22S. 282, nOO 

Coleman '2- ~:5, 279. :iOO 

Collin - ~-'- 2^<i. -00 

Collingsworth 19^. 19«. 2S0. :;()() 

Colonial Texas — Map 29 

Colorado 271. 2S?, ?>0:) 

Comal - 271. 279, ;!00 

Comanche 265, 2S4. :!0n 

Concho 271. 2S0. :!00 

Confederacy. Southern .....244 

Cooke 1^-5- 2S(i, :!0!) 

Corvell ". 74. 2S4. 300 

Cottle 13T. 2S7. :!()0 

Crane 22S. 229, 2S2, :!00 

Crockett.... - 139. 140. 2S0, :U)0 

('r,,sl)y 1~0. ISO. 280. 300 

Culberson - 229. 230, 280. 300 

Dallam 190. 280. 300 

Dallas 210. 285, 300 

Dawson 1^^- ^00 

Deaf Smith 1 ^^r,. 1 50. 2S0. :;oo 

Delta 272. 280, 300 

Denton 74. 75. 287. 300 

Departments 1835— Map 120 

DeWitt 42. 43, 283. 300 

Dickens 137. 280, 300 

Dimmit 129. 280, 300 

Donley H'O. 280 

Duval" 144. 287, 300 

Early Jurists 194 

Early f^atesman 1~4 

Eastland 150. 157. 15S, 279, 301 

Ector 240, 2S2, 301 

Edwards 44, 45, 280. 30 1 

Ellis 107. 285, 301 

El I'aso 272, 280, 301 

Erath 158. 159, 284, 301 

Falls 272, 284, 301 

Fannin 144, 145, 140, 280, 301 

Fayette 55. 50. 279. 301 

Fisher 107, 280, 301 

Floyd 137. 280. 301 

Foard 230. 287. 301 

Fort Dend 273, 279. 301 

Franklin 197, 286, 301 

Freestone 273, 285, 301 

Frio 273, 279. 301 

Gaines 75. 70, 280, 301 



The Index 309 

Page 

Clalveston 10. 1 1, 12, 283. 301 

(iarza 12, 280. 301 

Gillespie 217, 279. 301 

Glasf^cock 129. 130, 283. 301 

Goliad 13, 283, 301 

(ioliad Massacre l^'' 

Goliad Monument 1^3 

Gonzales : 45, 283, 301 

Gray 198, 280. 301 

Gray?on 108, 287, 30 1 

(li-e-'-"- 247, 286, 301 

Grimes 108, 109, 2S8. 301 

Guadalupe .14, 280, 301 

Hale 159, 280, 301 

Hall 76, 280, 301 

Hamilton 179. 279, 30 l 

Hansford 198, 199, 280. 301 

Hardeman 109, 286, 301 

Hardin 110, 111, 284. 302 

Harris 77, 78, 283. 302 

Harrison 78, 288, 302 

Hartley 199. 281. 302 

Haskell 146. 284. 302 

Hays 217. 218. 219. 302 

Hemphill 200. 281, 302 

Henderson 180. 285. 302 

Hidalgo 14, 15. 2SS, 302 

Hill - 78, 79. 285. 302 

Hockley 159. 160. 281, 302 

Hood 248, 249, 250, 285, 302 

Hopkins 79. 286. 302 

Houston 160, 161, 286. 302 

TFoward 181, 182, 183, 281. 302 

Hunt 183, 184, 185, 286, 302 

Hutchinson 200, 281, 302 

I u(lf]u'ndenee Declared 106 

I tidepeudence Acknowledf^vd 221-2:22 

Friou 186, 282, 302 

Jack 186, 187. 286, 302 

Jackson 57, 58, 283, 302 

.Jasper. 58, 59, 283, 302 

Jete Davis 250, 251, 282, 302 

JeflPerson 59, 60, 61, 302 

.Hin Hoerg 231, 232, 283, 302 

.11 in Wells '. 232, 287, 302 

Johnson 79, 80, 285, 302 

Jones 188. 281, 302 

Karnes 130. 131. 281. 302 



310 The Index 



Page 

Kaufman 188. 1S9. 2S5. 302 

Kendall 233, 234. 23S, 236, 281, 302 

Kent 139, 281, 302 

Kerr 80. 81. 281. 302 

Kimble 130. 281. 302 

King 137. 287. 303 

Kinney 81. 281, 303 

Kleberg 162. 163, 164, 287, 303 

Knox 62, 287, 303 

Lamar 189. 190. 287. 303 

Lam.b 162. 281, 303 

Lampasas 273, 279, 303 

La Salle 15. 16. 17. IS. 281, 303 

Lavaca 274. 279, 3()3 

Lee 252. 279. 303 

Leon 46. 47. 285. 303 

Liberty 62. 284. 303 

Limestone 274. 285. 303 

Lipscomb 201. 281. 303 

Live Oak 274. 287, 303 

Llano 275, 281. 303 

Loving 82. 282, 303 

Lubbock 132. 133, 282, 303 

Lynn 137, 281, 303 

Madison 62. 63. 64. 285. 303 

Marion 64. 286, 303 

Martin 112. 281. 303 

Afason 226. 281. 303 

>ratagorda 274. 303 

^raverick S3. 84. 284. 303 

^fcCulloch 165. 281, 303 

McLennan 87. 88, 284. 303 

Mc^fullen 46. 279. 303 

Medina IS. 2S 1 . 303 

MenaT-d 85, 86, 281, 303 

Midland 276. 282, 303 

Mier IC\])edition 269 

Milam 133, 134. 284. 303 

Mills 202, 279, 303 

Mitchell 1 12, 281, 303 

Montague 86. 87. 286. 304 

Montgomery 64. 28S. 304 

Moore 173. 2S1. 304 

Morris 236, 2S6. 30 4 

Afotlcy 167. 281, 304 

M nnicipalitics 278 

XacogdfX'hes 265. 285, 304 

iV:ivarro 1 13. 285. 304 



The Index 311 



Page 

Newton 58, 59, 2S3, 304 

Nolan H). 20, 21, 281, 304 

Nueces 276, 287, 304 

Ochiltree 203, 281. -304 

Oldham 204, 281, 304 

Orange 276, 284, 304 

Palo Pinto 276. 285. 304 

i'aiiola 276, 288, 304 

I'arker 88. 89. 285. 304 

I'aniier 89. 90, 2S2. 304 

Pecos 266. 282. 304 

Physiographic Names 267 

ridiH'crs - 67 

I'olk 219. 220, 284. 304 

I'opiilation (irowth in (SO (Mties 297 

Potter 114. 115. 116. 282, 304 

Presidio 22, 282, 304 

I'r()])ert\' Valuation Growth 298 

Provisional Government 104 

Pains 190. 286. 304 

Panda II 253. 282, 304 

Peal 238. 279, 304 

Peagiin 237. 238, 282. 304 

ileil Kiver 277. 286. 304 

Reeves 253. 282. 304 

Pefngio 22. 287, 305 

Republic of the Rio Grande 171 

Pepublic of Texas Map 170 

Roberts 205. 282, 305 

Robertson 47. 48. 49. 50. 51, 52. 28,"). 304 

Rockwall 277. 286, 304 

Runnels 239, 279, 304 

Rusk 117, 286, 305 

Sabine 277, 287, 305 

San Augustine 22. 287. 305 

San Jacinto 2, 3, 24, 25. 284, 305 

San I'atricio 52, 287. 305 

Siin Saba 25. 26. 282. 305 

Saiit!- Fe Pxi)edition 233 

Schleicher 240. 241, 280. 305 

Scurry 254. 282, 305 

Shackelford 146, 147. 285. 305 

Shelby 65. 288, 305 

Sherman 167. 168, 282, 305 

Smith 90. 91. 92, 286, 305 

Somervell 118, 285, 305 

Somervel Kxpedition 269 

Starr 93. 94. 95. 288. 305 



312 The Index 

Page 

Stephens 255. 28o, 305 

Sterling 95, 282, 305 

Stonewall 256. 257, 287, 305 

Sutton 257. 286, 305 

Swisher 135. 282, 305 

Tarrant 95, 285, 305 

Taylor , 96. 97, 279, 305 

Terrell 241, 242, 282, 305 

Terry 259, 282, 305 

Terry Hangers Monument 258 

Throckmorton 97. 98, 285. 305 

Titus 9^, 286, 305 

Tom Green 260, 261, 282. 305 

Travis 140. 141. 142. 143. 279. 305 

Trinity 26, 2S6, 305 

Tylfr 220, 284, 305 

Upshur 221. 286, 305 

Upton 261. 282, 305 

Uvalde. 27, 282, 305 

Val Verde 262. 280. 305 

Van Zandt 190, 191, 192 286. 305 

Victoria i 28, 288, 306 

Walker !.221, 222, 223, 224. 288, 306 

Waller.; 118, 279, 306 

Ward 134. 135, 282, 306 

Washington 65. 66, 282. 306 

Webb 206, 283, 306 

Wharton 119, 120, 121. 283, 306 

Wheeler 207, 283, 306 

Wicliita ...267, 285, 306 

Wilbarger 99, 100, 101. 102, 283, 306 

Willacy 242, 288, 306 

Williamson 122. 285, 306 

Wilson 192. 28 1 , 306 

Wiid<ler 262. 2S2, 306 

Wise 225. 287, 306 

Wood '. 193, 2S6. 306 

Yoakum 243. 283. 306 

'^'oiing 263, 285, 306 

Zapjita 172, 283, 306 

/iivala 123. 124, 125, 281, 306 



